Misunderstandings
by May La Nee
Summary: One day, Draco Malfoy comes home from work with Arthur Weasley. What happened? And why won't anyone tell Ron what's going on? Written from Ron's unreliable point of view. M to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

_**This fanfic is dedicated to Theresé for being my Ron**_

_**to Hege for loving Ron so much**_

_**to Katie for being my Charlie  
**_

_**to Brittany for being my Ginny**_

_**and to Jelena for loving Ginny and the twins so much. :D  
**_

"Why do I always have to make the table? Why can't Ginny do it? She's a girl, girls do that stuff, don't they?"

"Because I asked you. Ginny has to try on her new dress."

"A new d- Mum! Why does she _always_ get _all_ the new stuff?"

"Didn't know you wanted a dress, Ronnieponnie" Damnit, Fred…

"Want to look pretty like you did at the Yule ball?" Argh… George…

"_No_! I'm _only_ saying she _always_ gets _all _the new stuff!"

"She does not," smartass Fred… One more word…

"…Bill did too." hm… That was George... Does that count…? No, just count to ten, stay calm… One.. Two.. Three…

"_And_ Charlie," …_Four_…

"_And_ Percy. Let's not forget him." _Fivesixseven!…_

"Didn't _we_ actual-" I interrupted him by aiming for his head. George was so 'kind' to finish for him though; "-ly get a lot o-"

"_QUIET!_ Fred, George, stop teasing your brother. Go get Ginny; dinner is ready."

Fred and George Apparated up to get Ginny –and to scare her senseless-, while I sat at the table. Finally some peace and… "Ron, I thought I asked you to make the table. "

"Yes mom…"

I slouched to get the plates and by the time I got to the cupboard, mum had already whipped her wand out and put spoons on the table.

Ginny rushed down and sat at the table. She looked so grumpy there was no doubt Fred and George scared her good. And they did so again when they Apparated back down. Mum didn't even notice because she was just picking up the pan, but Ginny and I nearly jumped right out of our socks. I shook my head, but Ginny being Ginny pretended she wasn't startled even though she _obviously_ was.

"So you got a new dress?" I asked her, when mum started pouring soup in our plates. As usual it looked like hell, but it smelled delicious.

Suddenly I could hear dad's voice.

"… no problem."

Weird... Who could he be talking to…?

"I really appreciate this… if there's _anything_ I can do…"

Wait! Was that…? Ginny and I exchanged a glance. We seemed to be thinking the same thing;

"No; I _insist_ you don't worry about it. I offered you to stay here, so you will until you know more eh... About your Father."

Just then the voices came in sight. Dad opened the door, saw our faces and nodded in his 'I'm-not-happy-but-you're-supposed-to-think-I-am' way and held the door open for…

"Malfoy!?" He stood in the doorway looking sanctimonious as always, only this time he seemed to put less effort into doing so. "What's he doing here!?" I nearly shouted, that's how frustrated I was. Oh, I was going to punch him regardless of the reasons he might have… This is _my_ house and he has _no_ business here! I seemed to be the only one who was this frustrated with him though.

"Hello there," mum said, smiling at the 'guest' curiously before focussing her eyes on dad. He rushed over to her, and guided her to another room with a hand on her shoulder; "Molly dear, you should know that-" the door closed.

"Get the hell out!" I yelled at him, but he just stood there and stared at me in some goofy way. Stupid blonde.

"_Ron!_" Ginny hissed at me, as she shook her head. I didn't get it. I never get it. Am I stupid? Nobody ever tells me anything! Why wasn't I allowed to shout at him? "What, he doesn't live here, does he?"

"Take a proper look at him," George hissed from across the table. I shot a glare at the guy and hoped it'd kill him.

"Don't mind Ronnie here, he's having his period," Fred said to Malfoy. Malfoy didn't smile.

Neither did I.

"Whose side are you on!?" I hissed at the three of them. Was I the only sane person left!? What the _Hell_ was their problem!? I looked at Malfoy again. What could I possibly be missing? He was just standing there and staring, but really; he looked the same as always.

"He comes in peace," Fred said to me, nodding in an encouraging way to Malfoy, who now gave something like a smile.

"And how the hell do you know!?" I was getting _SO_ angry! How come _everyone_ seemed to know what was going on _except_ _me_? Was this planned? That's it, right? They invited him over, but dad didn't know because he's working and I don't know because everyone feels they're better than me.

They ignored me though… Everyone always ignores me when they think they're better than me.

"What happened?" Ginny asked him, sounding a bit shaky for some reason. Why the hell would anything have happened? Why the hell would he _come here_ if anything _did_ happen!?

Malfoy shook his head. "'No' happened. Right. You might as well go home then. To _your_ home, _not_ ours." Before I knew it I had Ginny's elbow between my ribs. "What did _I_ do!? _He's_ the one invading our house and standing there like a bloody mute." I felt I was about to cry; why don't they _ever_ understand _anything_!? And since when did _Ginny_ of _all_ people take silence for an answer!? When _I_ ignored her she'd go frantic!

Malfoy just stood there. He didn't seem shy or anything, he was just standing there, looking around… He was probably estimating everything in our house on its monetary value.

Why was he here? And what am I missing? Did he change? What is he, a vampire? Dad invited him in, so he could be…

I just got off my chair and I was about to walk over to him and put him outside, when mum rushed in and hugged the pest as if she cared about him.

As if he was her long lost son.

As if she loved him.

Has she ever hugged me that way? So tightly?

Malfoy swallowed nearly audibly, and seemed to be about to cry. What, was he afraid he got poverty dust on him? If he _dare_ say _anything_ even _remotely _insulting to mum, I swear to all Gods I've ever heard of; I'll tear his fucking head off.

Malfoy remained silent though. He didn't say a word. He did seem a bit peaky now mum guided him to the table, but… Was he really a vampire!? No… Why was she fussing over him like this? She never did that… She'd always fussed over Harry quite excessively but not like this. Never like this.

"Sit down dear… Just… Yes, " she smiled at his back, but her eyes were sparkling sadly. What the hell was happening? I decided to shut up and wait for someone to accidently let slip what was going on. Malfoy didn't say a word.

"It's rude not to reply…" I mumbled, but nobody seemed to hear. "Didn't your parents teach you that?" Mum and dad stared at me as if I was growing demon horns from my head, and Malfoy himself looked at me as if... I don't know... As if… He looked straight into my eyes and somehow I had to look back into his. I couldn't help it -was he hypnotizing me? I couldn't see anything different than gray… emptiness though. Wasn't the point of hypnotizing to get a message across? Or to get a message out of me? Then why did I suddenly feel so… Empty?

I blinked and suddenly realized everyone had started eating already.

Malfoy ate really slowly. He dipped his spoon in the plate without the metal touching the ceramics, and only filled it half before he brought it up to his face and sipped from it. It was kind of like he really didn't want to eat.

Well, that was too bad for him. He decided to come here and invade our house like this, so now he had to suffer the consequences. Too bad. He had to now. 'Insult my mum's soup…' I thought to him, '…insult her and you die.'

_**This fic has been on my head for a long time so I HAD to type it out. Please tell me what you think. I'd really appreciate it.**__** Also, I don't have any 'pairings' in mind specifically so if you have ideas for me I'm sure I can usethem. So don 't hesitate to tell me what you're thinking!  
**_


	2. Chapter 2

We were having this awkward silence.

Malfoy was on the floor, on a mattress next to my bed. On Harry's spot.

He'd better piss off when Harry gets here… I told mum I didn't want Malfoy to sleep in my room; I told her we didn't get along at all and that he'd be better off in Charlie's old bedroom, but she brought up the lamest arguments. Charlie could be coming over any time now and she didn't want him to be startled by a stranger in his bed. Ok, that kind of made sense... But he couldn't sleep with Fred and George either because they would scare him with their explosions. Right. Like anyone believed that. She just wanted to torture me. Because she thinks I'm stupid. As a last resort I suggested he slept in Ginny's room, but the only reason she had for that not working was because Ginny was a girl.  
When I told mum explicitly that didn't matter because Malfoy was gay as hell, she seemed even _more_ determined to have him sleep in my room.  
Right. It just didn't make any sense... I bet she only decided this because she hates me so much.  
Dad asked me why I was making this such a big deal; I asked him why they all acted like it was nothing.  
He gave me a vague story about how something bad happened and it was his duty to help. Right.

Riiiight.

So now Malfoy was laying on Harry's spot. His back towards me, curled up in foetal position. In my head I went through all the 'bad' things that could have happened to him. His mother broke a nail and threw a fit? His father didn't give him the money he wanted to buy himself something he didn't need? His room wasn't big enough? His food was too salty? No, that would all be too… _Too_…

Even Malfoy couldn't be _that_ spoiled. Plus, why the hell would he come _here,_ of all places, to find something better? Did he and his father get in a fight or something? Does he even have a mother? Yes, I saw her at the Quidditch World Cup… Then why does he never talk about her?

Y'know what; I'm just gonna ask him. He's laying right next to me, and he's laying so still he couldn't possibly be comfortable enough to be sleeping.

"Malfoy?"  
I rolled over to my side to look at his back. He didn't reply, but I continued anyway. He couldn't be sleeping if it was really all that terrible, could he?  
"What happened?"  
I waited for a few seconds. Was he sleeping? Nah, he couldn't be sleeping yet… "Hey, Malfoy. Wake up."  
He sighed really deep. Deep enough to actually be woken up by me. Then he rolled over and stared at the ceiling and didn't say a thing. How could he be so rude?

"I'm over here, y'know."  
"I know."  
"It can talk!I _knew_ you had it in you."  
"I didn't know you were familiar with sarcasm."  
"I wasn't being sarcastic…"  
How was that funny? It had to be, because he was smiling. Hm, let's make him stop it then. "Tell me what happened."  
"No."

"Why the hell not!?" I hissed at him through clenched teeth. Nobody else was going to tell me, I knew them well enough for that. But I didn't know Malfoy… He was my only shot at finding out what happened to him… "It looks like you're going to be here for a while, so you might as well tell me."

He sighed again. This time, it sounded a lot more stuttery and shaky. Almost as if he _was_ crying. I shot up and nearly fell out of bed just to see if he really was, but he wasn't and only looked at me weird. He looked like he was about to say something though, so I moved back in a more balanced and comfortable position slowly, trying not to scare him.  
"I'll tell you when I'm ready, all right?"  
"When you're ready?"  
"Yes."

I waited for more information, but he wasn't saying anything._  
I_ sighed now; clearly annoyed. "Come on, it couldn't possibly have been _that_ bad."  
His eyes shot up at me again, but it was too dark to get lost in them now.  
"I bet it's nothing so bad your daddy can't fix it with his money."

He stared back at me and didn't even blink.  
"What, he's like the richest person in the world right?"  
"Twelfth richest person in the world… Richest person in Britain."  
"_MY POINT IS_ that there's no reason for you to be here. Unless…" I was a bit afraid of my own thoughts, "unless he's dead."  
"Heh,"  
He heh'd? Why'd he do that? Death isn't funny, is it?  
"If he was dead I'd be on Hawaii partying right now."  
"But he'd be...?"  
"No, _I_'d be. The richest person. In Britain."

Right. I forgot that this was Malfoy I'm talking to and that he's the most arrogant and self-centred being on this planet.

"What about your mum?"  
"What about my _mother_?"  
"Sensitive topic?"  
"Not as sensitive as your groin when I kick you in it."  
"What was that!?"  
He didn't reply and just turned his back to me again.  
When I woke up later that night to take a piss, I heard him sob in his sleep. On the way back I _accidentally_ tripped over him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you all SO much for your reviews! I REALLY appreciate them. :D**

**Here it is: t****he long awaited chapter three! It's rather long because I told some people certain things would happen in certain chapters, and I'd break my word if I wouldn't let those things happen then. **

"Maybe you should get some clothes, dear."

Malfoy nodded, and made the table without mum asking him to. Show off. When he took a step back towards the counter to grab something, mum hugged him. Just like that. Out of the blue. Again he swallowed nearly audibly and looked like he was about to cry.

Mum didn't even seem to notice me.

"I think I should go get some this afternoon, if that's all right…"

By _Merlin_ I hated him! He was being so… 'polite'. And he sounded so pitiful. It couldn't be genuine. No way; Malfoy couldn't possibly be polite, not even if his life depended on it!

I went back to my room to get dressed, and took my frustration out on the was about 11, and I had woken up about ten minutes earlier. Starving, as _apparently_ Malfoy had woken up at the bloody crack of dawn to help mum in the brunch was at noon and I wasn't having anything edible before that.

The bastard knew I'm always starving in the morning, he had to, and that's why he did it and that's why I couldn't eat for another hour even though I was dying of famine.I locked myself up in the bathroom, threw a silent tantrum that included miming an argument and I didn't come out of there until noon exactly.

"Mum, why can't he just go home?" I asked, and I couldn't care less if Malfoy heard it or not. I doubt he could have missed it if he wanted to though, since he was already sitting at the perfectly set he gave mum a chance to answer – which is _so_ rude of him!- he said "Maybe I should just show you… I have to pick up some clothes, anyway."He sounded plain and almost as if nothing was wrong, which made me more confused than ever; he couldn't _tell_ me, but showing me was no problem!?

Mum seemed to agree with me –thank Merlin!- but just when she was about to say something, Fred and George apparated in and distracted her completely.

"Oh, you… You're going to give me a heart attack one day! Is that what you're after!?"They ignored her though, and seemed really pleased with themselves. But before mum could continue Charlie apparated behind the twins and scared her even more than the twins ever had!  
"OH! Charlie! I was just-" "…-fussing too much. Twins just old me."

Charlie didn't seem very interested in the twins or in mum at all, his attention was drawn to Malfoy instantly; "Draco… hey…" Malfoy looked back at him as if he was a monster.

What the hell… They _know_ each other!?Mum was as surprised to see them interact as I was, but the twins were still looking really pleased. What the hell was going on?Charlie slowly went over to Malfoy, as if he was approaching a dragon or something.

Then… Ginny bounced in the room, ruined the moment and left me (but now thankfully mum too!) in a state of complete and utter confusion about the situation when she exclaimed her stupid girly "hey, Charlie!" before she dropped in her seat.

Malfoy looked away, to his plate, and after a second or so Charlie went over to sit next to Ginny. "Hey Gin, …" He had a smile on his face that drooped off really quickly, and soon all I could hear was people chewing. It seemed really loud because there was no other kept looking at Malfoy, and the rest of us kept looking from Charlie to Malfoy trying to find out why Charlie was looking at him. This went on even after we had all finished our plates and had seconds! I was SO glad I wasn't the only one being lost and confused anymore!

Suddenly mum jumped up and snapped us all out of it; "Time to do the dishes! Ronald, would you be a dear and help me?"

No! Not now! I wanted to ask Charlie how he knew Malfoy!  
Where they met!  
Why they were being so awkward!  
Why the twins seemed to know!  
"But m-"  
"_Please, _Ron."

I sighed, got up, and slouched over to the counter to help her. Everyone else seemed to get up and move out quietly in slow-motion. Even the twins said nothing; they didn't seem to be as serious as Charlie and Malfoy though. Ginny looked up at the twins' faces, and immediately seemed to lighten up. I felt I lost the brief connection I felt with them while we were at the table, and silently helped mum.

While we were doing the dishes, mum kind off… mumbled a lot of things and kept shaking her head. I tried to ignore her, since the only thing I could really make out from her was 'poor boy'. But he's the eleventh richest person in Britain or something, right? Whatever he was; he wasn't poor. He was probably just horribly spoiled and came here to get used to 'living poor'… So when he went back he would appreciate his mansion a bit more.

When we were done we had a silent cup of tea.  
We looked at invisible things over each other's shoulder, and every now and then she looked me in the eyes and smiled.  
"Mum…" she focussed on me again, but didn't smile this time. I could feel I ruined a moment somehow and felt bad for doing so. "Why can't he just go home…?"  
"Oh, dear…" she said in her usual way, and she shook her head some more while pasting her smile back on. "I don't know if I should tell you… Maybe it's better if he told you himself."  
She took my hand and moved it around a bit when she said that.  
"But he won't."  
She sighed in reply, and just kind of stared at me.  
I looked at our hands, freed myself and rushed off, leaving her alone with her stupid tea. And her stupid hands.

* * *

I went upstairs, and heard voices in Charlie's room. Was he talking to Malfoy!? He had to be! Great, I would finally be able to find out what's going on with them!  
I slowly sneaked to the door and leaned my ear against it. Yup, it was them!  
I sat on one of my knees so the odds I'd lose my balance and give myself away weren't so big, and tried to breathe as softly as possible.

"So why didn't you write?" that was Charlie… So they really _did_ know each other!  
"What was there to write?"  
"Owls."  
"I mean.. Is there anything I could tell you you might be interested in? I barely know you at all, you know."

Oh, so they didn't know each other…

"You could have just replied to the letters I sent you." That was Charlie… It was quiet for a while, and I wondered what those letters were about.  
"Charlie…"  
"Hm?"  
"e-… I'm not... gay."

I could hear a weird gulping sound, and I wondered who made it.

"You're… not…?" Wait… What was.. That was Charlie! But how? I mean; he should be glad Malfoy wasn't gay, right? Because they're scary and more girly than Ginny, right? Then.. why did he sound so upset?  
"Then why… I mean… I thought that…"

Malfoy sighed in reply to that, and I could hear sheets rustle. 'suppose they're on his bed.

"You're nice. And… It felt good, so… You know; I'm sorry you misunderstood. I didn't mean to make you think it meant anything."  
"You're saying it meant nothing!?" Whoops.. Charlie sounded angry…  
"No… I just.. I don't fall in love. So forget it." That sounded like Malfoy all right… Wonder what they're talking about… Can't they just get to the bloody point!?  
"_Everyone_ f-"  
"I don't. Especially not with someone like you. So forget it."

Malfoy was being _such_ an _ass_! But then again.. if Charlie were hitting on me I'd say something similar…

"That was completely uncalled for."  
"I know," a sigh, "I'm sorry, I just don't want you to get the wrong idea."  
"What do you mean with 'someone like me', anyway? Hm!? Is it the hair!? The freckles? The fat? The _scars_ then, maybe? You don't like scars, 'Malfoy'?"  
"It's not any of that, it's just…"  
"I got a new one, you know."  
"...really…?" Malfoy didn't sound very interested. It was more like… hopeless.  
"Yes. I was thinking of you rather than how to capture the dragon and it burned my arm."  
"That… sucks…"  
"It does now I know you don't care."  
"Stop being so pathetic."  
"_WHAT!?_"  
"It has nothing to do with you."  
"The 'it's-not-you-it's-me thing?"  
"Yes."  
"I've been dying to see you for a year, you know that? Because you did seem interested in me… and now… I mean.. I came over here just to see you again and now-"  
"I ignored your owls on purpose."  
"…And _ now_ you seem to be the ass Ron always tells about."  
"He's retarded."  
"He's _not_. _You_ are. You're emotionally retarded, you know that? An entire year you let me live in some twisted dream, and now I do get to see you again and you're… being like..."  
"I like you. But I don't… You know.. I didn't tell a single lie when I was at your place… I was completely honest like I promised you I'd be… And I _did_ hope to see you again soon… But… Writing back would just get …. Y-… You know what; I don't want to talk about this. It's… not the right time."  
Malfoy's voice seemed to sound more and more like he was being suffocated… I don't think Charlie was actually strangling him though.

"Why not? I think this is the _perfect_ time to talk things over! In two weeks I have to be back in Romania! And you don't seem to be going anywhere, so-"  
"It-"  
"Would you _stop_ interrupting me!?"  
"It escalated." Wow, he sounded like he was really suffocating now… What was he doing?  
"You're damn right it did."  
"No… I mean at home. It escalated, so your father invited me over."  
"I'm amazed there was something left to escalate, but I really don't care about your home situation right now. I've been dying to see you for a _year_, and then you tell me you hate me?"  
"I never said that!"  
"And then you just-"  
"Charlie,"  
"What!?" it sounded…desperate. I felt bad for him even though he was gay... I mean; I knew how I felt about Hermione, and waiting one night to see her again was enough to make me feel miserable… Let alone the summer… I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have to wait a year and then hear the other didn't like you at all!

"I could really use a friend right now." Wow... Malfoy's voice… it… it broke.  
It was quiet in there for a while, and I was dying to know what was happening. All I could hear was the rustling of sheets.  
"..hey…" That was Charlie… What'd he say 'hey' for?  
I heard some more rustling, and then a sniff. The kind of sniff you only hear when someone is inhaling through their nose when they're crying.

It was quiet for a little longer, and I was anxious to know what Malfoy looked like crying! In Charlie's arms! Oh if I only had a camera I could blackmail him SO much! I could... I could boss Malfoy around! The thought entertained me for a while, and just when I was getting tired of the silence they started making sound again.

"How bad is it?" Charlie asked the way he used to talk to Ginny when she was four years old. Maybe he talked that way to me too... I don't remember.  
I heard rustling and some more sniffs before I heard a reply; "It can't… can't be fixed. N-Not even if he pretends…" another sniff. What can't be fixed!? Argh this was SO frustrating! They were telling me so much but I still knew so little!  
"But what about-"  
"Can't be fixed," Malfoy stated with a voice that sounded like he was holding his breath when he spoke –which he probably was- and then they remained quiet.

I suddenly felt really bad for hearing what I heard, and quickly sneaked to my room.

Escalated? Can't be fixed? What the hell were they talking about?

**I'm sorry it took so long, and I'm even more sorry that the following chapters will probably take longer. I write most of this on the train, on my way back from class, but when I get home I don't always immediately have time to type it out. **

**Chapter 4 is in the making! **


	4. Chapter 4

_Harry,_

_Guess what! Malfoy is at our place! He just kind of came back from work with dad. I don't know why, but mum and dad do and they're not telling me. __When he came in he just kind of looked around like he was better than all of us and then he ate so little as if the food was bad. He's such an ass.  
__I don't know why he's with us though. When I asked him he said he's 'not ready'. Bloody mental if you ask me. I think it has something to do with Charlie somehow and with his parents or something because he became really pissed when I mentioned his mother. Oh yeah and mum keeps hugging him._

_Charlie is gay. And him and Malfoy met a year ago. But I'm not supposed to know that yet so I can't actually ask them about it. So... things are too weird. _

_Anyway how are you mate? Does your fat cousin have those things yet? Heart attacks and diabeaters and all that? I hope so, you might finally get a little space to breathe.  
__I kicked Malfoy out of my room (can you believe mum made him sleep in MY room!?) and I think he'll sleep with Charlie tonight which is just too gross.  
__I also heard him cry!. Isn't that amazing? A crying Slytherin in our house? I kind of hoped Colin would show up and take pictures to blackmail but yeah. You received much fanmail from that little shit? I hope you did because I haven't exactly been writing much, even though it's only been two weeks._

_I'll see you soon then_

_Ron_

* * *

Poor Harry… Living in that shithole… Ah well, he'll be here soon and things will be fine. I hope the Dark Lord isn't haunting him or something.

Now… The difficult part….

* * *

_Hermione,_

_Malfoy is staying over at our place for some unknown reason. It's all too weird. You have more brains than I do so I hope you'll be here soon so we can figure this out._

_Hope your holidays are good. Are you in France again or something?_

_Talk to you soon,_

_Ron_

* * *

It felt like there were SO many things I had to tell her! But when I got the chance to, such as now, I simply couldn't find the words!  
Ah well… She'll live. She better! She has to come over!

Should I tell them I'm going to Malfoy's place this afternoon!? No wait… They'd never believe that. Nah, I'll make that a surprise. Maybe I can take something from there to show them as evidence and stun them like hell. Figure of speech.

Sometimes I'm just too bloody brilliant.


	5. Chapter 5

"…some clothes 's all." Malfoy sounded almost as if he was bored. I walked down the stairs just now, and he was already standing in front of the fireplace. Charlie was standing really close to him, and was nodding.

Mum stood behind them, seeming very nervous. "You take care, dear… If anything is wrong, just-"

"Charlie's coming. I'm sure I'll be fine."

What the… I thought _I_ was coming! He couldn't tell me but he could show me, right!? Why didn't he mention me?

I walked over to the fireplace feeling really annoyed. He told me I could come, didn't he? I _needed_ to come! I had to take something for Harry and Hermione!

"Oh yeah and him too," Malfoy added and nodded in my direction, as if he only decided that now.

"Oh, well…" Mum was fussing with her apron now, and didn't seem to want us to go at all.

"Just… be back in time for dinner, all right?" she nodded hopefully, looking from Malfoy to me and then to Charlie.

Malfoy didn't reply but took a hand of Floo Powder, said "Malfoy Manor", and disappeared in the green flames.

"We'll see, all right mum?" Charlie said as to cover up for Malfoy's rudeness, and kissed her on the forehead. "Stop worrying," he added before departing as well.

I stepped forward now: I was _dying_ to know what Malfoy Manor would be like! How big would it be? Would there be many secret passages? Would they have a swimming pool? A sauna? An entire forest for themselves? What would his toys look like? Ah, brilliant! I'd take some of his toys! To make up for all the fun he got out of me!

"Ron, I don't want you to say anything inappropriate while you're there."

What the… Why was she suddenly being like this?

"The poor dear has been through a lot, and I won't allow you to add to it."

"Maybe if you'd tell me what's going on I'd be able to decide what's inappropriate and what not," I replied, feeling angry at her, still. Was she being like this to me because I left her with her tea earlier?

"I can't, dear… He asked us not to tell…"

"Then there's nothing I can do besides being myself, is there?" I snapped at her, and rushed to get to Malfoy Manor before she could reply.

* * *

I could see a creamy white velvety sofa right in front of me when I arrived. Behind it was a cabinet with antiques, and on the floor was some sort of thick carpet… with on it a table in such an odd shape I wondered if my eyes were still positioned in my head correctly.

It must be the oddest table I've ever seen… Most tables are square, or rectangle, or circular, for all I care… Not like this. Not this wiggly… Shape. If there were words for it I'd probably put them here. The top surface was flat, like it should be, but the sides were all wonky and weird. Hideous thing.

Anyway, time to step out of the fireplace. I didn't want mum to decide to follow us and land on top of me!

The table was even weirder from nearby… Ah well. I turned around to look at the fireplace.

It. Was. Huge. It reached up to the ceiling, but that alone wasn't so special… What was though was that the ceiling itself was about double as high as it is in the Burrow. "Bloody hell…"

After a few seconds I realized Charlie and Malfoy weren't in the room with me. I went through the nearest door, and realised I was now in a hallway the size of two of our kitchens.

Whatever… I had to find them!

I left the room I was in and tried to close myself off a bit from all the things I saw…

Well… From the things I saw, let's put it that way. There wasn't a lot, actually.

I always expected the Malfoy's place to be full of amazing things… and it was amazing, it really was, don't get me wrong! The ceilings were high and white, and so were the walls with some gold and black ornaments on it.

The portraits all looked grumpy and posh, and none of them paid any attention to me as I passed. Most just made a face as if I smelled really bad…. Pretty much what Mrs. Malfoy did at the Quidditch World Cup.

I walked on though, had no clue where to go. Charlie and Malfoy had probably entered a room, but I had no clue which one to take! So I decided to follow my instincts and entered the first room that wasn't entirely closed. Carefully I pushed the door open further, and saw the walls were even higher here. Apparently the Malfoy Library was bigger than the one in school! It contained lots of women's diaries I don't doubt, but still. It was huge! How many books that would belong in Hogwarts' restricted section would be here?

I realized I was staring with my mouth opened so I closed it, and slowly walked inside.

Charlie and Malfoy probably weren't here, but I couldn't help myself. I still needed something to prove to Hermione and Harry that I'd been here, didn't I? A book would definitely be proper evidence, especially if it was bad enough to belong in the restricted section, because both of them knew me well enough to know I didn't take it from the school library!

Perfect!

* * *

Bloody hell, how long had I been looking for a proper title!? There were FAR too many books here! My eyes were starting to tear because of all the reading they weren't used to doing, and I just about had it when I saw a book titled 'the Ancient Arts'. That looked interesting… The title was printed on the side in gold shiny letters, and I would not have been surprised if it was real gold on there. I mentally patted myself on the shoulder and turned to leave the room, when I saw something to my right.

There was a sofa, with a foot in front of it. A foot with a shoe on it… A very shiny looking black shoe… I looked down, slowly, trying to control myself.

I thought I stepped on a carpet earlier… apparently, it was the sleeve of a dress.

It was…"Mrs. Malfoy…?" I said the name breathlessly; why was she on the floor!? Had she been here for long!? I kneeled down beside her, and wondered what to do. Damnit; I'm not a nurse!

I stroked some of her hair out of her face. I knew it was probably really inappropriate and Merlin-knows-what, but what was I supposed to do? I could call for help, but the only people here were Malfoy and Charlie… And if they were nearby they would have probably heard me shriek when I realized it was her. Plus; I didn't want to risk Mr. Malfoy finding me here touching his wife! Wow, that thought _really_ creeped me out. Malfoy's father seeing me kneel besides… Wait… Was this even her!? I stroked some more hair out of her face, and noticed it was sticking to her lips and mouth. Had she been drooling? Nah, drool didn't stick like that… Didn't smell like that, either.

Had she been puking? Ew…

It was her all right. Last time I saw her there was lipstick on her lips and she looked a lot more awake, but it was definitely her. She was kind of cold… The fireplace wasn't on though, which explained a lot. I turned her over carefully, and carefully picked her up to lay her on the sofa. She was far out, no doubt, because she didn't give in the slightest bit. There was vomit all over the front of her dress… Gods; I couldn't believe nobody had been in to check on her. Or maybe Malfoy had and that's what scared him so much that he had to stay with us! Yeah, that made sense!

I felt very nervous and out of place still, until I saw an empty wine bottle next to the sofa. Ahh… That explained a lot… Poor woman probably got drunk and fell over on her way out! When I lay her down I noticed she had been laying on a book. Some novel…

Definitely a novel, judging from the cover. Whatever, if this was her idea of a party so be it.

The Malfoys never exactly looked like party people to me. Harry and I have had some fun imagining Mr. Malfoy getting drunk and going wild, but I never genuinely expected them to be capable of having a good time.

I felt bad about that now, though. If Mrs. Malfoy had actually spent a night alone in this huge library with a bottle of wine and a book… She must have been so alone…

I looked up at the ceiling, and was again amazed by its height. Damnit, this place gave me the creeps!

I grabbed 'Ancient Arts' and quickly left the room; I didn't want to be there when she woke up!

**I am SO sorry for taking so impossibly long to update! I have been really confused about what I wanted to in this chapter because I got the idea to not spoil anything yet, but after long deliberation I decided there was no point in not-spoiling anything because this fanfic would be going nowhere!**

**So again; my deepest apologies. Please do tell me what you think; I read all reviews repeatedly and I greatly appreciate them.**

**Next chapter is in the making!**


	6. Chapter 6

"…obviously…" I heard Malfoy's voice a few doors ahead, so I entered it.

"Took you long enough… Mum told you off?" Charlie asked, sitting on the floor in front of Malfoy's bed.

His room was _huge._ Seriously. It was easily bigger than the boys' dorms, and the ceiling was about double as high. There was a bed with the bedhead against the middle of the wall opposing the door, with a door to its left. There was a desk against the right wall –covering the _full width_ of the right wall-, and there was stuff _everywhere_.

There were clothes, books, ink, quills, and parchment on the desk, clothes, parchment, books, toys, trunks, two halves of a broom and a complete broom on the floor, and (decorative?) weapons on the walls.

The walls were covered with dark wood up to a certain height, and went up in a dark green colour from there. The ceiling was black and seemed to have stars on it, exactly the way I wanted it a few years ago. I hadn't been allowed to, because it would make my room look small and dark… But Malfoy's room didn't look small at all. In fact, I got the idea he had done pretty much everything he could to make it look small, but he simply hadn't succeeded.

"No I got lost," I replied shortly, trying to hide the book in my hand behind my back.

Malfoy turned back to Charlie, but seemed hesitant to continue talking. I couldn't care less, and went over to his desk.

I was feeling a bit awkward as well. I felt I had walked in on something utterly private and restricted and Merlin-knows-what, even though they had just been talking. Maybe they had been discussing gay stuff? Well in that case it was a good thing I stopped them before they would get all… Naked and… Ew…

Even now that made sense again it still felt as if the entire room was 'pointing' me somehow, and Charlie and Malfoy were expecting something of me. Well, I wasn't going to join their gay stuff, that was for sure!

"I, er… You have an awful lot of stuff, you know." I stated in an accusing tone. What the hell was I supposed to say?

"I know," Malfoy replied, sounding like he really didn't care. I expected him to mock me for my lack of stuff, but he didn't add anything. He didn't seem proud about it… He didn't seem guilty, either. It really was like he had no emotion to express. He probably felt so much better than me that I wasn't allowed to know how he felt, or something ridiculous like that.

It was quiet for a moment, but then Malfoy said; "You can take some if you like."

"What?" Was I imagining that? He just told me to take some of his things?

"Take some. I've grown bored of most of this years ago."

"Oh… "

Suddenly I felt absolutely horrible about taking that book from the library. What the hell was I thinking? Perhaps, if I would have asked, he would have given me something far better!

"n-Nah," I tried to say casually, not able to help sounding like a complete idiot. "I don't need charity," I added carefully, even that was supposed to come out with power and self-assurance. Maybe his house had a spell over it that didn't make it possible for people to sound the way they wanted? To feel the way they should? It would definitely explain a lot…

Perhaps Mrs. Malfoy had felt truly happy in the library, all alone and drunk as a troll. And maybe Malfoy had actually intended to sound firm and impressive and jerk-like and all that.

Regardless of all that, I didn't want him to think I actually _wanted_ some of his stuff. I did, but I didn't want him to know. At least half the stuff he had, tossed carelessly on the floor, had been on my Christmas and birthday wishlists for years, but… I suppose this was pride… I couldn't just take it now he offered. He was _Malfoy_ for Merlin's sake!

"Suit yourself then," Malfoy stated as he raised a shoulder, before Charlie got up off the floor and sat on the bed instead. He said something really softly, that made Malfoy nod so slightly I could barely detect it. I saw it though, their secret little communication-… thingy! He probably asked if he thought I was an idiot. I could just imagine it; Charlie's voice going 'He's an idiot ain'he?". Yeah… And then Malfoy nodding… Damn him!

But still… I did take something that didn't belong to me from 'the richest family in Britain', right before getting permission to take something from them…And even though I hated him I felt horrible about it. It was as if the book had become twice as heavy at his words. I carefully put it on the desk, trying not to let them notice- Successfully.

Perhaps if I took something after I declined, that would be better. It would definitely feel better to me… Now. My pride wouldn't be hurt, and he wouldn't be able to sue me because even under Veritaserum he would have to admit he offered. Brilliant.

Now, what to take… It was hard to pick something… in all the crap. I wondered if my room was big enough to even fit half the stuff in. Now, what to take to show Harry and Hermione? Something impressive… Something nobody else had… Something posh and expensive.

Hey, that was his ring! That 'pimp bling' or whatever Harry called it earlier, - the thing Malfoy wore occasionally to make him look like an even more stuck up prick. It was laying on a half-unrolled piece of parchment, and it was out of his sight…

Should I take it? It would… It would be stealing… Oh, I've been over this… Plus; it's not like he looks like he's about to take it. Carefully I hovered my hand over it in a semi-casual way, and then picked it up without a sound. Did they see me? No… Both of them were looking at Malfoy pick dirt from underneath his fingernails with his other hand.

We were all just… together for a while, quietly but not exactly awkwardly, until Malfoy got up and put some random clothes from the floor in his trunk. "How long are you staying with us, anyway?" The question was out before I realized it, and Charlie looked at me as if I had just insulted him. Malfoy looked at me too, and even though he was bent over and looked at me with raised brows in order to see me from that angle, I still had the feeling he was bland and emotionless like just before. "I don't know yet," he replied, indeed sounding plain, "Why do you want to know?"

"I don't want you staying in my room. It's not like we're 'friends' or anything."

"That's all right, I'm staying in Charlie's room tonight."

Oh, I should have seen that coming! Stupid queers! I should have known something like that would happen! But I wouldn't have it in the house _I_ live in! No way!

"...and we don't like you." Malfoy seemed confused, but turned back to packing. His carelessness struck a cord in me that somehow activated me again. "The Burrow is _not_ a _hotel_!" I added, suddenly feeling very frustrated with him. I had been before, but I had also been 'blanded' down a bit because of whatever it was radiating off of him… My normalness was coming back to me now though; "So we don't want you there!"

"Who are 'we' in this, Ron?" Charlie asked, as he got up off the bed and stood next to Malfoy as if he was Crabbe or Goyle willing to fight his fights for him.

"Well, me! And Fred and George! And mum and dad too, _and_ Ginny of course!"

Charlie just opened his mouth to reply to me, but Malfoy interrupted him ignorantly; "If they want me out they should tell me."

Charlie's expression relaxed, and he looked at Malfoy's back as if he was watching a puppy drown without being able to do anything. Just when I was about to add something, he looked up and narrowed his eyes to me in a way I haven't seen him do before. I didn't know exactly what it meant, but I knew that Malfoy had somehow convinced him to pick _him_ over his own family!

Well, I'd show him Malfoy wasn't worth that, or much of anything else for that matter.

**T****his one didn't take too long, did it? I hope you enjoy! I'll get on with the next chapter a.s.a.p.! Please leavea r eview if you can, I love hearing what you think.**


	7. Chapter 7

Charlie had offered to cook for Malfoy in his house, but when Malfoy saw the face I made at the sound of that he declined… Which confused me severely.

When I then said I would like to see it, but I didn't want to eat in it (because I was still holding his ring and I had no clue where to put it since these bloody pants didn't have any pockets), he offered to give us a tour.

He was more of a tour guide than I expected… And when we reached the wine basement he actually asked if we wanted to try some! 'Taste it like gentlemen' he said… Well, I wasn't sure what that meant, but it reminded me of his mum with sick on her dress so bad that I declined. Charlie seemed disappointed, but Malfoy didn't seem to care either way. He honestly didn't seem to care about _anything_! I mean; he showed us around in his father's office, and even told us he wasn't allowed to be there… Which I could understand, considering the stuff that was in there… Most of those things I hadn't actually seen anywhere but on images, and those we had seen in real life had been stuff Snape told us would be unacceptable to possess. And Malfoy just walked around in there, showed some things without even bothering to hide that we'd been snooping around and then walked out without bothering to close the door.

When I asked him if his parents wouldn't be pissed, he said they wouldn't be around to find out. Obviously his mother was far out, so I pretty much knew where he was coming from. I had become all excited about catching his father just as wasted, but there was no such luck. No, all we got to see were more huge rooms that felt empty even though they were full of stuff. When he introduced the portraits to us they all looked at us like they looked at me earlier, making me feel a lot more comfortable.

Later, when we came home, it felt incredibly small and nearly suffocating. As if I had been outside instead of inside a huge manor. It just felt _so_ good to be back again! Warm, and cosy, and … so full! Yes! We could actually get our rooms _full _with stuff! For some odd reason it felt as if I just won something… Ah, whatever.

Charlie helped get Malfoy's trunk in his bedroom, because Malfoy himself wasn't allowed to use magic out of school yet. He was genuinely intending to carry it up himself, which really amazed me. But then again; since Dobby was gone he probably had to do a lot of things by himself. Maybe that's why his mum was in the library and not in her bedroom? The thought of Dobby forcibly dragging her around the house with a bottle in her hand was good fun… I wasn't going to bring it up immediately though. No, I'd wait for a good moment… He was probably going to make some nasty remark soon… Somehow I didn't feel that was as obvious anymore as it was before, but I knew he had to make one at some point, and then I'd prove him wrong about us by telling him I saw his mum so hung over she was unconscious.

When Charlie was settling Malfoy in his room I put the ring in mine, and soon after that mum called for dinner.

Lasagne.

I hate lasagne.

Malfoy sat opposing me, next to Charlie, eating slowly and quietly. Everyone was kind of quiet, but somehow Malfoy seemed quieter than anyone else. He took smaller bites, too. I was about to open my mouth to tell him to be more appreciative, when mum asked him how the food was.

"It's fine, thank you," he said quietly, and gave mum a small nod before he turned back to his plate.

Mum didn't stop looking at him… It was as if she was expecting something of him; to confess some secret or something. The twins noticed it too of course, so before I could ask him why he left his mum in the library covered in sick, of course unintentionally embarrassing him and his family and making him show some bloody emotion for a change, they decided to have a nice little chat.

"What would you be eating now if you were at home?" Fred, of course. He was the one who started the fight and gave the final kick… Not like this was a fight, but that was the way it went every time I got in a fight with them.

"Do you have huge buffets every day?" George added, and even though he had a big grin on his face he seemed a little off. Mum and dad seemed to stiffen a bit when they asked it, and looked at Malfoy intensely. Malfoy himself didn't seem to be too bothered… in fact, he smiled! Not one of those cocky grins he had on parading through the school, but an actual smile!

"We didn't have a single meal at home since Dobby left… Not when I was there, anyway."

The twins' eyes widened, and theirs weren't the only ones. Motivated by the questioning gazes he continued; "There are of course Charity dinners _and_ brunches, to which Father is always invited… he took us to every one of them since then, and there are also a lot of restaurants."

"So you don't cook?" Fred asked, looking at Malfoy with amazement, and then turning his head to mum hopefully. "Never," Malfoy replied with a grin now, clearly enjoying their amazement. "Do you feel too good for that," "George!" Mum interrupted him, but Malfoy kept grinning so Fred continued for him, "Or do you simply don't know the spells? "

"Bit of both… " Malfoy trailed off, and actually got this sort of hazy stare that reminded me of Harry when he was showing me the Mirror of Erised, "...my parents are quite the perfectionists… They don't like failure, so they simply didn't try."

Ginny gave mum a hopeful look and shoved her plate aside, but mum gave her a stare that made it perfectly clear we weren't going out for dinner anytime soon.

"What about the house holding then?" Fred asked with a big grin. I don't doubt he was imagining huge piles of dust everywhere. Even though it really hadn't been that bad – all right, it was a bit dusty, but it looked very tidy compared to Hogwarts-, Malfoy's grin disappeared and he went back to looking bland. "Father hired someone for that," he said shortly, and continued eating. Charlie gave Fred the look he gave me earlier, but I still didn't get it. Of course, when he gave it to me I had been rude…ish… but… Fred didn't say anything wrong, did he?

"What hap-" George started, but he shut up when Charlie kicked him in the shin. Then he and Fred exchanged a meaningful look, and continued eating quietly.

I wanted a reason to tell them I saw his mum covered in sick... It was burning on my tongue!

But I couldn't just… I mean; he wasn't exactly being an ass, was he? I didn't want to be the one to start a war… He was a Slytherin; it was his job!

Perhaps I could provoke him in some semi-unintentional way? Just like I kicked him last night? Nah, not like lat night… I kicked him harder than I intended then, because I changed my mind in the last second and then nearly lost my balance… Come to think of it; it's amazing it didn't wake him! … unless of course it did, and he didn't say anything… He's probably plotting on revenge then! He must be; he can't just let go! Don't Slytherins hold terrible grudges and all? Salazar sure did with the monster in the Chamber of Secrets… I should just give it a try, carefully and all. If it doesn't turn out as a provocation nobody will even know I was up to that.

My mind was racing… What to talk about…? It had to seem innocent enough…

"Why don't you have any siblings?" "Ronald!" Mum gave me a much meaner look than she had given George earlier. Of course she did. All of us were good at something, she once said… I suppose I was good at pissing her off unintentionally.

"My mother hated them." Malfoy said, a voice smaller and quieter than before. He sounded like he was suffocating again, but he wasn't turning blue or anything. He was just looking down and a bit… peaky.

"Ah." I said, feeling a bit odd now the entire table had gone quiet. Why would it be? Nobody was even eating anymore… Did I insult him? No, I don't think I did… Then… why…?

Wait… "Hated?"

He nodded so softly I could barely detect it.

"She loves them now, or…?" I asked stupidly even though I could feel by the tension in my abdomen that that was probably not the case.

Wait… He hadn't shown us the library on the tour, had he? Even though the door had been opened… Gods…

Suddenly I felt sick to my stomach.

And I had… Picked her up… Merlin; I had _touched_ her… And… I had… I had genuinely intended to embarrass him with the… the sick on her…And the bottle… The image of Dobby dragging her around… Gods I had _stolen_ from him…

"May I be excused?" Mum looked at Malfoy as if she didn't know he had been sitting there the whole time, and then gave him a brief nod. He nodded back, got up off his chair quietly and went upstairs. When the door closed with a light thud, Charlie shot up and rushed up after him, immediately followed by the twins who took a lower pace.

I stared around with my mouth opened slightly, feeling more surreal than ever. Mum and dad stared at me as if I had killed Mrs. Malfoy myself, and when my gaze met Ginny's a tear rolled from her face before she ran upstairs faster than Charlie had.

"s-Sorry…"


	8. Chapter 8

**First of all, I would like to thank Wiccan98 for her help.  
Second: ****Thanks a LOT for your reviews; they mean a lot to me!****I don't reply to all of them because I tend to get carried away and spoil lots of things. The best way to restrain me is to avoid temptation so… Even if I don't reply to your review, I did read it and I'm VERY grateful for it!  
Now; on with the story…**

I finished my dinner with only mum and dad at the table, feeling like I was the worst monster to ever have existed. It was no wonder they hated me, honestly. And if I were Malfoy at this point I would have probably killed me-… er… Ron.

There were a few things on my mind though. Why did everyone know but me? And why had they still seemed so shocked when Malfoy spoke about her like that?

"Mum…?" She looked at me, not happy but –thankfully- not angry either, but didn't say a thing. I quickly swapped my empty plate for Ginny's nearly full one, and took another bite before continuing. "How come everyone knew but me?" Much to my surprise she sighed in her you're-stupid-but-I-love-you way, and smiled -sort of.

"Only _we_ knew, dear…" Mum said, and for some reason I suddenly noticed how she always said 'dear'.

Out of habit, not out of love.

It was as if she slapped me in the face with that word.

"But Ginny and the twins seemed to," I replied shortly, feeling my breath being cut off by this new bit of information about how mum really felt about me. I probably sounded as suffocated as Malfoy had before, and suddenly I felt a lot closer to him than to my family.

"They didn't," dad said, shaking his head sadly. He seemed a lot more 'real' than mum; "We didn't tell them.. He asked us not to." He nodded now and pressed his lips together in a smile-like fashion, even though he really wasn't smiling. "Even last night they all seemed to know," I said, still shortly. I wanted to find out how things were and then go upstairs as well. I really didn't want to be here right now.

"When were we suppose to have told them?" Mum asked, genuinely surprised. Good point, good point… Dad came in and took mum, and when the rest of us saw Malfoy they all seemed to know… I must have just missed 'it', whatever it was.

"The boy was beaming off depression," dad said -thankfully. I don't think I would have been able to listen to mum right now without crying. "I saw him at the ministry… " he hesitated, as if he was deliberating whether to tell me or not. "He seemed to be looking for something… I assumed he was just bored or lost, so I asked him how is father was." Dad put on a shy look, as if he had made a huge mistake there. He probably had, since Malfoy was now staying over with us.. Where was his father, anyway? I should ask him about that… Maybe dad would tell me in a moment? I could imagine Malfoy not being overjoyed at that with his mother drinking herself to death in the library. Dad nodded absentmindedly and still had his pressed-lips-smile on. He was looking at something nonexistent over my shoulder, and I knew he was thinking of how to tell me what was going on. "… he said he didn't know..., with a voice as if he had been crying… So I asked him what was the matter… So I took him to my office and offered him a drink… " Mum listened along, pretending to focus on making tea. Of course she was listening, she always was. She was some sort of spy living in our household and picking up all the information she wasn't supposed to pick up on. She had always been, but it was it had become terribly frustrating a few seconds ago. "And then the story just came out. He barely took a pause to breathe, but at the end of it he looked as if he was the d-… " "The what?" I asked, not about to have anyone not-tell me anything anytime soon. "as if _he_ was the dead one," dad said really softly, getting a furious glare from mum. Dad nodded at me, his non-smile still on. "So what happened?" I could hear mum sigh at my question, but I ignored her. She was like a big fat _cow_ (I almost said it out loud)… But she was more of a chicken… trying to take care of everyone who stopped by. Such a pity she seemed to neglect the ones actually part of her nest.

"I don't think I should be the one to tell you," dad said, something like an apologetic expression on his face. "But you do know?" mum asked before I could.

"I'm sorry Molly, but he told me not to tell anyone. I'm sure he'll tell you when he's ready for it."

"When would that be? He's just a _child_ Arthur, you can't expect him to walk around with something that horrible!"

"Er….Tea done yet?" he asked her in a would-be happy tone, but mum ignored him; "Ron dear, you should apologize to him." Obviously she was only saying that to get me out of the room so she and dad could have a thorough talk, but yet I felt offended. "Now!?" It wasn't like I hadn't been planning to do that, but it just felt wrong to have to go see him immediately. What if he was crying right now? It would be so awkward… Also; mum told me to, which made it even more awkward for me to actually go. She had the gift of making me feel stupid with her would-be kind suggestions.

"Yes!-dear, now!" mum frowned at me and turned her entire body in my direction, meaning I'd best be going.

I gave her a furious look and then got up so suddenly I threw over the chair.

I didn't bother looking at it, and I wasn't about to pick it back up. My idea of demonstrative action… I knew it wasn't much, but at least now she knew I was angry at her without me actually needing to argue with her. There was no arguing with her.

She looked at me, clearly flabbergasted by the discovery of my spine, and without giving her a chance to recover I rushed upstairs.

* * *

"Malfoy…?"

"Draco." he stated as a reply, so I opened the door to Charlie's room and found them sitting on Charlie's bed together. Charlie seemed to be sitting closer to Malfoy than Malfoy was to Charlie somehow, which got me really confused for a moment. I stepped in and closed the door behind me, hearing the twins and Ginny talk in the room next to this. Malfoy looked at me without any apparent expectation, or any other expression for that matter. He didn't seem to be crying though, which made this a lot easier.

When I opened my mouth to speak, Charlie scooted even closer to him. "I er… I wanted to apologize." Malfoy raised his brows slightly, without actually changing his expression. I shifted my weight uncomfortably. "I'm sorry."

"I know," he said, apparently unaffected.

Charlie put his arm around him as if he was about to cry, but Malfoy seemed fine for someone whose mother died so recently. She was still warm… Ew…

It was quiet for a while, besides barely distinguishable voices through the wall and the floor. "Er… So it's okay?"

Malfoy nodded.

It was quiet for a bit longer, but it wasn't as uncomfortable anymore.

After some deliberation I decided it wouldn't hurt to pretend Malfoy hadn't always been such a prick, so I went over to the bed and set next to him. Charlie's eyes followed me suspiciously, but since I wasn't exactly planning to take his 'boyfriend' away from him, so I wasn't going to pay attention to him.

Malfoy didn't even scoot, he just sat and seemed to be thinking. Just like Charlie. Just like me.

"I want a drink," he suddenly said, causing Charlie to sit a bit more upright.

"Mum's making tea…," I replied, slightly confused because of the randomness.

"Not that kind of drink." he stated in reply, and relaxed completely so he was laying on Charlie's bed now, folding his hands behind his head.

"Ah, you want to get wasted?" Charlie said rather enthused, before laying down next to him. He nodded.

Wow… Unexpected… Getting drunk is the last thing I expected Malfoy to be eager to do since his mother died of it… Or did she? What if the bottle there was coincidence and she was killed by something entirely different? I should ask dad… Or him.. or Charlie of course, some time later. Now didn't seem a very good time. Besides; I myself would quite appreciate a proper drink right now.

"It's Friday, isn't it?" Malfoy asked, sounding slightly more vivid than before.

"Yeah… " I paused for a moment, but decided to nip his dream in the bud; "I don't think mum will let us go though… Or... _you_…" Malfoy never said he was going to take me… Not like I insisted on it, but for a second there it seemed obvious. I didn't want to force myself on him, however wrong that sounded; he was a guest with some serious crap going on at home… I couldn't expect me, the Burden Boy, to be allowed to come.

"You're coming… You're 16, right?"

"Yeah…" I replied, trying to hide my –in my opinion- misplaced enthusiasm.

"I'm sure I can convince her." Malfoy stated with a nod.

All right... What the hell… I lay down next them, feeling out of place because I wasn't gay, and hoped he wouldn't be joking.

I'd never been out to get drunk before! Sure, I had the occasional butterbeer, but actually going out to get drunk was something new! Because that's what he was planning, right? That's what Charlie said, isn't it? Better ask to make sure…

"You're actually planning to just get 'wasted'?"

I couldn't help but like him; he certainly didn't seem like a prick now. I knew it probably wasn't wise to be won over so quickly, but Malfoy hadn't done ANYTHING to prove me right about him being an ass… A man had to know when to stop, and if I were to be a man, I'd better stop assuming he was out for us now.

It felt a bit… unprotected… to just decide to trust him, but then again; Charlie was likely to come so what could Malfoy probably do to me?

Perhaps I should call him by his first name… Nah… Let him initiate that.

"Hm-hm… Quite sick of all the long faces… Especially my own… And proper party never hurt anyone." He sounded more vivid now, yeah…

I couldn't help but laugh a bit; "You're mental, you know that?" I immediately regretted saying that; for some reason I wanted him to like me right now. Probably because I felt so close to him with mum being such a bossy…cowchicken?…-whatever.

He just nodded though, and then turned to Charlie; "You know any good places?"


	9. Chapter 9

**YAY IM A BETA NOW! :D**

**Anyways, about this chapter: There's**** a thick Scottish accent... And… I chose to try to write it phonetically (which means I'm trying to write it the way it sounds).  
This means it's probably tough to understand.  
So… If it doesn't make sense, please review saying I should type it in normal English so you can imagine the accent. I don't want people to not be able to keep up because of one of my stupid ideas.**

Malfoy indeed managed to persuade mum… In fact he had managed to do so without any apparent effort! He didn't actually tell her he wanted to go to get wasted… he told her that getting out of the house and have a little fun might be a good idea. I should remember that approach… Tell her the truth with so little detail she'll agree…

She did insist we all paid for ourselves though, and needed us all to _swear_ we'd take good care of Ginny.

Who would be wearing her new dress.

The rest of us just had to wear our best stuff. Except for Malfoy of course. I don't think he wore jeans often. And that blouse didn't look like anything I'd seen him in before, either. All I ever saw him wear was black, really. Black and school uniforms. He looked really different now.

It was about 11PM and the place we were at didn't look remotely familiar.

"Hey, I remember this!" Fred suddenly said, before poking George in the ribs with an elbow; "Isn't this where…?"

"Chelsea…?" George replied, his eyes growing big and carrying an expression I didn't know from him. Fred nodded; "Chelsea."

Charlie started grinning, and even Ginny seemed to know what was going on. Before I could ask her, she said; "George is in loooove…"

When the twins rushed inside without any further explanation, Ginny and I waited for Malfoy and Charlie to 'draw some money from the wall', whatever that as supposed to mean.

For some reason Ginny and I never had anything to say to each other when it was just the two of us. "George is in love?" I asked her to try to keep some sort of conversation going. "Yeah, Charlie gave them dance lessons for Christmas last year, remember?"

I think I remembered… They had actually asked me to come but I had declined. Dancing is stupid, isn't it? Especially for guys. It was of course difficult to get the twins a gift, but to resort to scary creepy stuff like dancing lessons seemed a bit far-fetched, especially for Charlie. Ah well; it didn't matter. "With who?"

"The teacher. She's a cousin of some guy Charlie met in Romania," Ginny replied. How did she know all- "How do you know all these things?"

"I asked them."

Oh… Makes sense…  
"So you knew Malfoy's mother was dead?" I asked her softly. She looked at me as if I was crazy; "No… But it was quite obvious something was seriously wrong, you know."

"Was it?"

"Yeah, you don't see Malfoy on OUR doorstep of all places for no reason, do you?" She looked at me as if I was some disobedient child.

"No, but I just figured… He was going to make a fool of us or something…"

"This is _Draco Malfoy_, not Fred or George… And then still; he wouldn't have stayed over and all that, would he?" I shook my head. It _was_ kind of obvious… Especially with what dad told me… It was weird, but it had to be something really serious. Where was Malfoy's father in all this, anyway?

"Why were you all so nice to him?"

"We weren't nice."

"How were you not? You just... Accepted him… being there."

Ginny sighed really heavily, and crossed her arms. She looked angry; "That we weren't _insulting_ him doesn't mean we were being _nice_."

"Ssssh!" I rushed to cover her mouth, but she hit my hand away. "They're right across the street! They can _hear_ you!"

"_I don't care!_" Ginny said in a lower cased voice through clenched teeth, her face only an inch or so away from mine. This was were I was supposed to shut up, or she'd scratch me; "_You're_ the one being offensive to him, not me. If I have something to tell him I'll tell him in his face. Or at _least_ loud enough for him to hear!" Her voice was gradually rising, and for a second there I would have sworn I heard Malfoy snort from across the street.

Then Malfoy dropped something and mumbled a curse, snapping my attention back to Ginny. She was right; gossiping is wrong.

"So… What do you reckon happened?"

"I don't know." She was pissed, but cooling down. Good! I needed someone to talk to now, and she was pretty much my only option this moment.

"Aren't you just a bit curious?"

"I know I'll get lots of ideas in my head if I think about it too much… I don't want to be prejudiced."

"_Not prejudiced!?_" I couldn't believe my ears! Malfoy was pretty much the most prejudiced person in the WORLD, and Ginny wasn't going to be prejudiced concerning him!?

She rolled her eyes and sighed again. "I'll ask him when it seems right," She quickly put a smile on when Charlie and Malfoy came back.

…with a lot of notes.  
Muggle money notes.  
There WAS money in walls…? I should ask Harry about that at some point.. Not Hermione, not Charlie, not anyone else; Harry was the only one that didn't make me feel stupid when I asked him something.  
I was a bit worried now. I didn't have any Muggle money… All right, I had 'one pound', which pretty much was one coin, which didn't seem like a lot. Especially not now I saw Charlie and Malfoy have far higher numbers printed on their notes.

I was amazed though. Malfoy wasn't someone I expected to own anything Muggle-related.

"You have Muggle money…?"  
He was opening a brand-new looking wallet and putting the money in when he replied to me.

"Father said it couldn't do any harm to be able to get some… After all; you never know what situations you end up in." He put the wallet in his pocket, and looked up at me with something like a smile. I was a bit taken aback by that… He was standing so close to me, and he was smiling? It seemed really out of place and I kind of felt I was looking at something I wasn't allowed to see. Probably even more so because this smile, or whatever it was, was completely different from his smirks and grins.

Regardless of Malfoy's smile, I had a problem now. I had no idea we were going to a Muggle place, and now we were here I had about eight Knuts but no more than a single pound. I would probably have to trade with Charlie, but the twins and Ginny were probably doing that already... What if he didn't have enough? I didn't want to rely on Malfoy for money! I wasn't worrying I was going to make him broke, I just felt like I already owed him because of the ring and I didn't want to owe him anything more.

I didn't get a lot of time to think this through though; he passed by me and I turned to follow him and Charlie inside.

The twins were leaning against the wall, talking to a really short blonde girl with two frizzy pigtails. She had somehow managed to get neon pink and neon green streaks in them, and then a shirt and a skirt in those same colours. She made the everything around her look really bland. From the back she looked like she was about twelve years old. She was about one and a half head shorter than George, who was actually leaning against the wall in a way that made him shorter. When I walked closer I could hear she spoke with a very thick Scottish accent, and George had a grin on his face I didn't know from him. Fred was standing with them and the only thing he seemed to be paying attention to was his twin's facial expression.

"Ye'r a togh lo' te fergeh'," she said happily before taking a sip of (something I assume is) water from a glass. George grinned at her in a way I didn't know from him; "I couldn't forget you either…. "

"What'she say?" I asked nobody in particular.

"'You're a tough lot to forget'," Ginny said shortly. She had opened her mouth to add something, but quickly closed it again and sighed. I don't know what I was doing wrong now, because this didn't seem like gossip to me… But whatever.

"You've been on his mind a _LOT_" Fred said to her, gaining a rather harsh poke in the ribs from George. Fred looked at him rather confused, but then pasted his smile back on. I could see something in his eyes that usually wasn't there.

"Shall we go in then?" he said, seeming a bit… off. Why was everyone behaving so strangely? I bet Malfoy spread whatever he was suffering from...  
No wait; he wasn't suffering  
from anything…  
Except from a mild depression, probably.

* * *

We had been here for about an hour now, and I hated it. The music was loud and nobody paid ANY attention to me, and on top of that Malfoy had the girl _I_ saw first hang over his shoulders…. And he hadn't even left the bar! George was dancing with the tiny girl and seemed to be having a blast even though he was a disaster, and Ginny seemed to be having a good time with some random strangers as well.

Wait… That guy… Was looking at her… Whispering… Placing his hands _far_ too low on her waist… pulling her _way_ too close… Staring at me…

I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to let him know I wasn't going to tolerate that behaviour on my sister, but he ignored me.

And I was sick and tired of being ignored.

Nobody asked if I was enjoying myself -which I wasn't-; Ginny had been a bitch to me earlier even though I hadn't done anything wrong; the twins hadn't even _looked_ my _way_; Malfoy and Charlie HAD, but they were ignoring me… Hell; they were offering drinks to _strangers_; the girl I tried to talk to looked at me as if I was strange and then walked away and even the music seemed to hate me because there wasn't a single song I knew.

Gradually the feeling of sadness had built up in my stomach, and I felt as if I was going to cry.

I wasn't actually going to of course, but you know, if I wouldn't have been a guy I probably

would have.

And now some ridiculous looking guy in too tight clothes was touching my sister.

Regardless of how much she hated me; I felt responsible for her. And I felt this guy was doing her wrong. I wasn't going to allow my sister get violated on a crap night like this.

Then Ginny looked my way… And glared. Oh, bloody-…! Had I been glaring? She probably hated me now!

She'd be grateful later though… if I could protect her from this freak…

She might not realize it now, but… A few years or so from now… She'll realize I did it in her advantage…

Then I heard Ginny yelp and I saw her face change as if she was in pain.

I rushed over there as fast as I could and shoved the guy, receiving a lot of confused looks from a lot of people.

"Get your hands off my sister!" I said to him, clearly audible above the music, but yet he looked at me with a confused expression.

"Hands off…?" he said with a raised brow, having a thick Scottish accent as well. We weren't in Scotland, were we? Oh, what did it matter. "YES! My sister!"

I pointed Ginny who quickly tried to disappear in the crowd but didn't manage to do so.

I tried to grab the guy by the collar, but didn't manage to do so the first attempt because his shirt was too tight. He swallowed and looked at me stupidly.

"Me-hands weren't on yer sister, lad" he said with an apologetic grin. He was blushing though, so obviously he was lying. I pulled his face closer to mine, and he rushed to add "Not like _tha'_, anywae."

"You _groped_ her…" I said, pulling him even closer. I was bluffing, but I knew he must have done something to hurt her. Since he was turned with his back to me when it happened, I placed my bets on 'groping'. With all these eyes on me I couldn't afford being wrong…

He was looking straight into my eyes and seemed to be nervous. Then he slowly placed a hand on my upper arm, apparently trying to calm me down.

"Ye'r ge''in' this all wrong, ma'e…"

"No I'm not… You're after my sister and I'll have to _REBUILD_ your _F-_"

"Let him _go_, Ron!" Ginny seemed really pissed. But she didn't know what was good for her! I wasn't going to let her take charge of men's business!

"_No_! Let me take care of this!"

The twins were now here too –when did they get here?- and the girl George was with suddenly burst into laughter. "Tha''s my brother," she said with a big grin.

The guy I was holding was blushing more fiercely now, and he was trying to keep me on a distance by softly pushing my leg away from him with two fingers or so. If he really wanted to keep me away he might want to try putting a bit more power in there.

"So?"

He put his other hand on my other arm, and when Ginny pinched the bridge of her nose with one hand I relaxed a bit.

… how come there was still something…

"He's gae."

…poking…my…leg…

I felt the sadness and anger in my abdomen mix up tightly and then change into something kind of like nausea.

"b-But Ginny-…"

"Someone stepped on my foot," she said shortly, though she seemed to clear up a bit.

The twins were beaming, and I knew that the entire school would hear about my new boyfriend the moment they got the chance to tell.

**LOL I didn't realize this was so long already! Hope you enjoyed it!**

**I think Ginny is one of the most difficult characters to give a personality...  
And by the way, this also goes if you think my Ginny is fine; If you have _any_ different ideas (ANY whatsoever) please tell me because this story only has a few things planned out that are certain.**


	10. Chapter 10

"So thaz… Tamsin," the girl I saw first, that was still hanging over Malfoy's shoulders, smiled at him and moved her nose over his face.

"Annnd you're….Daniel?" the faggot nodded and took a sip of his drink.

"And you're Deirdre."

Some creepy fat girl I hadn't seen before giggled and leaned further over the bar nervously.

I was surrounded by idiots, and I wondered why the hell Malfoy was talking to them.

I was quiet, sat a few stools away from them. 'Daniel' offered to buy me a drink earlier, but I declined. I didn't want to have anything to do with him. He was looking over at me every once in a while, but I just glared back at him.

Charlie looked at me every now and then too, but since he didn't tell me anything I wasn't telling him anything either.

I don't know how much time passed when I played with my empty glass. I didn't want to look at Ginny… Or at anyone else. Not really, anyway.

I couldn't help but look at Tamsin though…Who was getting comfortable on Malfoy's lap…

The nausea in my abdomen settled a while ago and allowed the sadness back in.

It was worse now, now everyone knew how much of an idiot I was.

I sort of jumped up –woke up, actually- when I saw something flash by. It was Tamsin's dark hair.

She grabbed Malfoy's hand and pulled him off his stool, looking really happy while she did so. Her expression quickly changed when Malfoy pretty much collapsed on the ground and nearly pulled her along, but she smiled again when she tried to get him back on his feet.

Malfoy wasn't smiling though.

Nope; he was laughing.

Manically. He dragged her down and held her on his lap, but she didn't mind. Her dark brown hair hid his face from my sight and then his laughing stopped.

Paused until their kiss broke.

He was drunk, obviously, but… if I were him I'd be crying. His mother died of alcohol, after all. Maybe he needed this kiss with the girl _I_ saw first to cheer him up? I didn't want to care.

Deirdre's fat ass then blocked him out of sight for a moment and when I saw him again he was standing and guided to the dance floor by the girls.

Charlie and Daniel were having some private chat with their faces really close to each other, occasionally looking to the sides suspiciously. I _really_ didn't want to know what they were talking about, so I looked back at the dancing people. I could distinguish Ginny's hair in the distance. She seemed to be having fun. Malfoy was much closer, but I could only see his back.

I would have probably followed them if my mood was better… and if I wasn't so thirsty…

I decided it was time to do _something_ though; Most of the night has been wasted and I didn't expect to come here again, but I didn't want to spend the entire time sitting and staring.

So I went over to the now empty seat next to Charlie, and immediately Daniel sat at my other side. Did he really just get up to sit next to me? This guy gave me the creeps. But awkward as it may be; right now I didn't mind. I could use some attention, and if this freak was the only one willing to be around me, that was fine. Charlie was still here of course, but considering the only thing he had eye for was Malfoy he didn't count as a person right now.

"Drink?" Daniel asked, and I nodded. It was too warm in here to refuse, and I hadn't had anything for hours now.

I got a beer, and gulped it down. It was a lot different from butterbeer, though I couldn't exactly describe _how_. It didn't matter though.

I was allowing some fag to get onto me. That's what mattered.

"Gives-a-kessden?"

"Whut?" Did he really just say what I thought he said?

"A kiss?"

Yup, he did… Bloody hell… I can't enter a Muggle bar without the first faggot I spot coming onto me… almost literally…

I quickly finished my beer (so he couldn't take it from me) and then shook my head and looked away a bit. Damnit; I wanted attention! Not a love affair! And _especially_ not with some guy!

"Whey no'?"

He looked really sad… I felt a bit bad for him.

But what the hell was I supposed to do? He was a _bloke_! I don't kiss blokes! Because I don't bloody fancy them!

I raised my shoulders in a gesture that seemed quite hopeless and he seemed to get the hint.

"Wha' can I doe ter make yer kiss me?"

I raised my shoulders again, a bit more annoyed this time.

I didn't want to seem like too much of a prick though, so I pretended I was distracted by looking at the dance floor.

The twins had… both taken... a side of… that girl... Chelsea? And Malfoy was dancing with Tamsin and the fat girl. Ginny was dancing with some guy again, but I refused to care.

"I see…" he said.

I turned back to him; was he looking at my ass?

"Yer fancy _'im_, doen't yer?"

"I'm not _gay_!" I felt I was starting to blush though. I knew very well I didn't fancy Malfoy, but this was getting _too_ awkward.

"Prove i' then," he asked me as he ordered me another beer by pointing me.

When I realized I had Charlie's full attention I felt my face turn a few shades redder. "How the hell do I prove that?"

"Kiss me," he said triumphantly, and sat up straight.

'Straight' probably isn't the perfect word for a guy as gay as a cheesecake with sprinkles. Regardless of that; he was beaming.

"Er…" I looked at Charlie for help, but Charlie seemed very amused and looked at me curiously.

"...I'm not gay." I said to him in a sigh.

"I know," he said, his voice higher than usual. I wasn't sure if he didn't believe me, or if he was pretending not to. That grin of his really didn't say anything either.

Suddenly I had a bright moment; "_How_ exactly does _kissing_ you prove I'm not into guys?"

"I doen't knoew…" He raised his shoulders, and then placed an arm over my shoulder. I hit it away, but he put it back again.

This guy truly gave me the creeps, and Charlie grinning at my other side wasn't helping.

"Ye're havin' a togh teyme a' hoeme, then?"

I didn't say anything; I was still trying to get his arm off me, but he kept putting it back. And now his other hand was on my knee! Wasn't this some form of molestation?

"Yer brother jus' told meh," he said with a smile as he stroked my leg, "It's all righ', ef yer want to talk abou' i'?"

"No thanks…" I was leaning back so far I nearly fell off my stool. I didn't want to make an even bigger fool of myself, so I jumped off and pushed him aside.

"Calm doewn!" He was going to add something, but I decided I had enough.

I briefly considered going to the men's room to take a break from the noise and the smell of sweat, but that didn't seem very wise at all. The scent of piss being the least reason.

So I went outside.

**Lameness galore! But an update is an update, isn't it?**


	11. Chapter 11

It was really fresh outside. Not cold; fresh. I hadn't realized it was so sweaty and icky inside until I was here.

I felt something like envy. There were a lot of people in there having a great time, and I was here, outside, alone, my only company being some couple walking the dog across the street.

I looked at them, pasted on a smile… but they didn't pay any attention to me and went around the corner.

Well, FUCK them. I didn't need them. What was the point of random strangers? What I needed were friends to be with me, to stand here with me and to listen to me _without _trying to solve it all for me. But yeah… Harry wasn't here… And Hermione would _definitely _come with solutions.

The thing was that I didn't _want_ any solutions; I just wanted the bloody attention!

For some reason Crabbe and Goyle popped up in my head now. They were probably the type of 'friends' that didn't say anything. Yeah; when Harry and I were them, Malfoy seemed very confused whenever we opened our mouths to speak.

I could imagine it to be nice to have people who listen to you without doing anything else. People who didn't insist on having top grades in every class. People who didn't have some freak wanting to kill them. Just… people who had no worries of their own, who I could rant to until they understand what _I'm_ going through! Harry and Hermione… Are very nice people, but… they think too much. _FAR_ too much.

And there was nobody else on this planet who took me seriously, was there?

Well... that Daniel-guy had tried to… but… he wasn't exactly what I wanted either.

I leaned my back against the wall of the building and looked up at the sky. There were barely any stars at all, and the moon was nearly full. It was a very bright night, really, and I was slightly annoyed by the street lights. They seemed very useless to me.

Part of me wanted to go over to one of them to kick it, but… I sort of feared someone might see it and laugh at me.

So I just stood there and waited. I knew from experience that if I would have done it, someone would have come out and seen it immediately, but now I decided not to it's like people were intentionally waiting a bit longer to come out.

In pure boredom and sadness I decided to focus on the music. I could hear every word of the lyrics clearly… Every English word, anyway.

Bloody hell… The most annoying song ever made just started playing.  
"_Be happy!"_

"No damnit… " Hah! I was talking to a song! I couldn't help but grin at my own stupidity… But yeah; this song was a better partner for conversation than anyone else around here.  
"_Come on let's go get on!"_

"Nah thanks… I'm no homo…" I did make sure to whisper; I didn't want anyone hearing me say these things to absolutely nobody.

The song went on for a bit, until it reached the chorus. The most simple and ridiculous chorus I _ever_ heard, I'm sure.  
"_Happy boys and happy girls, we'll be. We are the happy boys and girls"_

I mean; wow. Someone must have seriously run out of imagination.

Just when that line was repeated for the third time, Malfoy rushed out of the building and leaned against the wall with a bang. Seriously; I could have sworn I could hear his head it the bricks. If the opened door wouldn't have been between us, I would have probably _felt_ the impact, too.

He didn't seem to have noticed me, and I felt some sort of awkward tension grow with every second I remained silent.

Malfoy had shut his eyes tightly and was pressing his lips together as well, and just when I was about to open my mouth to talk to him he bumped his head in the wall again.

"Bloody hell!" What was wrong with him? Sane people don't bas their heads into walls, don't they?

He sort of relaxed when he heard me… At least; I assume he heard me since I wasn't exactly whispering.

He kept his lips pressed and eyes shut tight though, and I somehow felt it was my responsibility to get him to relax a bit. But what the hell was I supposed to tell him? I had no idea why he was being like this!

"I know the song is horrible but you don't have to get all… _suicidal_ over it!"

When he didn't reply initially, I thought he just didn't hear me. I laughed a bit at my own joke; suicidal over a crap song like this…

The chorus was playing for the second time now… _"Happy boys and happy girls, we'll be. We are the happy boys and girls"_

Slowly Malfoy's face turned to me. He was _furious_. It sort of scared me, really. I mean… He had looked pissed before, but not like this; not this intense.

"What the hell is your problem!?"

Oh crap... I hadn't noticed the tears on his face until _after_ I asked that. Malfoy doesn't exactly seem like the type to actually cry with tears and all for attention... especially with the current lack of er… _crowd_.

"D'you mind pissing off?"

"I do, actually." Erm. No I didn't. There were very few things I would rather do than leaving him right now, but my reply was out before I knew it.

Malfoy's angriness faded from his face and made place for more sadness. He then turned back to looking straight forward, bumped the back of his head against the wall again and allowed slid down with his back -now nearly bare- sliding against the brick wall.

He then pressed his hands against his face and his elbows on his knees, and sat really still.

All right... This was awkward…

I looked around, hoping to see someone –anyone- who could help me out here, but there was no one. Okay then… I can _do_ this…

I went over to him, hoping he didn't notice me, and stood right next to him with my back against the wall.

I looked down on him and… Somehow it felt really _wrong_ to look down on him. Really inappropriate.

So I sat down next to him.

He must have noticed me now, but I didn't mind as much anymore. I wasn't the one crying, after all. But still; it felt like my responsibility to keep some form of conversation.

"Your shirt is all,… er…"

He leaned forward, pulled his shirt down, and leaned against the wall again. He scraped some skin off his back with his sliding action, but I decided that wasn't the right topic for now.

So after some more semi-awkward moments of silence, I decided to just drop the bomb; "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," he replied before inhaling deeply.

All right… He was lying… Obviously… So I should probably just…

I got up on my feet again and went back to my previous spot. I didn't know why, but it just felt 'all right' to go back there. As if it erased what just happened from time.

"That crap song…" he started. Oh yeah; the 'suicide song' just ended. I grinned at my own remark about it, and then remembered it's what made him cry. Right. The grinning stopped.

I was about to ask if it was 'this one' just for the sake of it, but then I noticed it was over and some other crap song started playing.

"It's erm…" I was glad he was talking without my encouragement. I didn't want to seem too interested, though of course… I was curious.

"It's the bloody song…" He hit his head against the wall again, but this time it didn't seem as if he did it to crack his skull. It seemed more like he wanted to look up at the sky again and he accidentally hit it.

He let out a very airy laugh, and shook his head. "I just… Last time I heard it…"

He inhaled deeply through his nose and I could hear the snot climb in higher. He was shivering, but there were no tears coming. I decided it was time to break the tension; "You weren't happy?"

"Heh," he seemed genuinely amused. "No, no I wasn't; I erm…" he swallowed, and rubbed his left hand over his left temple so I couldn't see his face. "It's the song that played when my mother died." He nodded nervously and seemed to still be laughing a bit, but I didn't want to think of it. That 'happy boys happy girls' crap song was the song that… played... when… Wow. Seriously. I could pretty much imagine mum lay there in a puddle of vomit, and I could feel my intestines tie together at the thought.

"Oh…"

Yeah... What do I say to that… Wait; "You… _know_ when she died…?"

He combed his hair back with his fingers and seemed to have trouble deciding where to put his hands after that. "Yup."

I was about to ask him 'how', but thankfully he decide to take the initiative again.

"I er… She was calling my name." He moved his head to the side a bit as if he was trying to indicate 'you know' but he did it in such a shaky and unnatural way that I could feel my intestines tie up tighter. "But… I didn't want to hear it. Obviously; nobody wants to hear their mother call for them like that… So… I put the radio on. And then that… crap… was playing."

"Oh…"

He was so… nervous! He didn't seem necessarily sad… it was more like… Yeah. Nervousness. I mean… Neville was _exactly_ like this when it was his turn to have a presentation about some topic related to the History of Magic.

Malfoy… Then, he was like… He held his presentation about the parallels between The Dark Lord and some Muggle named Hittle, and he seemed completely cool.

But now…

I could imagine he wasn't comfortable telling me about this, but… To seem _nervous_…

I honestly had no clue what to tell him. Part of me felt obliged to try to comfort him, but… how do you comfort someone who seemed personally responsible for their mother's death?

There was silence between us, but it was no longer as awkward as before. No; I was just… I don't know how to put it into words, but I think 'I hated him' pretty much covers it. How could someone be this cruel towards their own mother? I mean… Honestly; she was _dying_,… and he _put on_ the _radio_!?

"She called your name…?"

He looked up at me.

"You… She was _dying_…" He pressed his lips together and nodded at my words, "And you put on the _radio_?" I couldn't hide the accusing tone from his ears. And quite frankly; I didn't even attempt to.

He nodded, nods increasing speed until he seemed to manage to open his mouth to reply; "It wasn't the first time…"

How…?

"You killed her _more_ than once?"

"I didn't kill her at _all_!"

"But you just said-"

"That she _called_ for me! She's been trying to kill _herself _at least _twenty_ times now! And every. single. time._ I._ was the one who had to help her empty out her stomach! I just-…"

I wondered what interrupted him, and saw the fag Daniel walk outside.

Right.

"Someone go' was'ed?" he asked happily, looking from me to Malfoy, who then got up. I was searching for words. Mrs. Malfoy had tried to kill _herself_? That's… Wow… Mr. Malfoy wouldn't be pleased, I'm sure… Where was he, anyway? No; didn't matter… Maybe he was in some secret room in the Malfoy Manor? No… NO! I shouldn't be thinking of that now. Daniel; let's deal with Daniel first.

"Er… Someone... died…" I said hastily, trying to get Daniel's attention off of Malfoy. I didn't know why exactly but it just felt wrong to have him be the one to answer.

Daniel's face fell. "Oeh?"

"That's a bit exaggerated…" Malfoy replied, looking pretty normal again. He actually grinned; "I'm just wasted 's all… I haven't died quite yet."

Daniel snorted and poked me in my ribs with an elbow; "Ye'r such a joeker," he said with a big grin, before his eyes got some sort of misty look and he tried to stare me down or something. I didn't really know how to interpret what he said; my mind was with Mrs. Malfoy. She had killed herself? Repeatedly? Or wait no- she had _tried_ to kill herself repeatedly?

That's… That's just… Wow…

I leaned against the wall, feeling a little dazed. How could… Malfoy wanted to go out and party? That his mother was dead was bad enough, but… Wow… I would _not_ have felt like partying, I'm sure.

Daniel must have realized I wasn't going to talk to him so he was talking to Malfoy now. Good; good. I couldn't screw anything up this way.

So… Malfoy's mother killed herself… She called for him for some reason… and then… er… his father was out. I was pretty sure he didn't know where his father was. Honestly; if he knew, he'd be _there_ and not with us, right? Unless of course his father had something to do with WHY his mother did it… And why was Malfoy himself hiding what was going on? I mean… If he would just say that his mother died, Daniel would shut the hell up, right? Hm… Or maybe he wanted Daniel to talk to him? Charlie was a puff too, and... WOW! That might be it! Seriously; if Malfoy was as straight as the bloody rainbow -like he probably was-, him and the sprinkled cheesecake might get along really well!

He probably just wanted to get laid to get rid of all the stress… And… Oh… _OH_! Maybe his parents are ashamed of him? I'd be ashamed of him… Perhaps… No… Do mothers kill themselves over their child's sexuality? Mum wouldn't, but… Perhaps… Mrs. Malfoy… Yeah… She's _very_ different from mum, that's for sure… She _might_ have… Oh… Oh _wow_… That's… Not until now did I fully realise just how serious whatever was going on as 'daily business' in the Malfoy Manor must be. If she was near suicide 'at least twenty times' over _him_… And his father just… wasn't there… Ran away in disgust or shame or something… Yeah... I'd pretty much put the radio on, too.

**The song I used is 'happy boys and happy girls' by Aqua... It made me feel sad for some reason so I decided to use it here. xD And.... WOW. Seriously; I did NOT realize this chapter was so long already! I was going to add more, but I'll split it up so it's in ****pretty much bite-size chunks. xD So yeah obviously; more to come!! Also; your reviews DO help! Even if they tell me things you guessed wrong and stuff... they help me 'realize' waht it is I'm doing to you... I really did adjust the story thanks to some of your reviews so please do keep them coming!  
**


	12. Chapter 12

"Ronald?"

"…what?" I was thinking about what Malfoy just told me so deeply that I hadn't realized Daniel walked up to me. "Hey! Who told you my name?" Aw crap… I'd be spammed with owls! Oh wait... Muggles don't use owls, do they? But what if he wasn't a Muggle?

What if they told him more? What if he had our address now!? I didn't want him on the doorstep either!

"Where's me kiss?"

"Huh? Oh!" I thought I told him off! Why doesn't he just quit? "You're not getting one."

"Ye sure?" he almost stated the question, and raised an eyebrow as he reached in his pocket. I hoped something else than what I was expecting would come out of there… Honestly the pockets in his pants were placed so awkwardly it was hard to expect anything else than his… yeah. Why didn't I realize his pants were purple before?

Well… Probably because I just heard Malfoy's mother killed herself and he was there…

I looked at Malfoy, trying to figure out how he was feeling. He seemed fine… He seemed to be wondering how –I- was doing, actually… The way he was looking at me… And at Daniel, but mainly at me.

So… He seemed fine… What if he was lying? For attention? Like he did with the hippogriff 'nearly killing' him?

Daniel then stepped to the side, blocking Malfoy from my sight with his babyface-with-white-spikes. "D'you mind?"

"Twenty Quid for a kiss."

"Huh?" What the hell… He was going to buy kisses now? I don't even know how much a quid is in Knuts!

"Twenty Quid!" He was licking his lips already.

"I don't…?" What the hell… I have no idea how much Quid was worth in the wizarding world! Plus; I thought people here paid with Pounds!

"That's about sixteen Knuts," Malfoy said from behind Daniel's big head.

Ah, all right. I squinted at Daniel, hoping he would understand I bloody hated him; "I don't think so…," I added, just to make sure he got it. Sixteen Knuts was more than I had, but I did NOT want to kiss this freak! Or any guy for that matter!

What was…"Do you _mind_?" his nose was touching mine, and I could smell his awful mint breath.

"Forty Quid?"

"No."

"Sixty?"

"No!"

"Er… A hundred?"

"N-!…how much?"

"Hundred," Daniel was smirking.

"That's about… Eighty Knuts?" Malfoy sounded very… happy. Well; he wasn't exactly doing cartwheels, but he sounded content. For someone whose mother apparently killed herself… No, it probably wasn't true.

Now… If that was a lie… Why would I believe him if he said how much that money was worth?

Daniel's smirk faded.  
"I go' abou' four hundred Quid here…" he was biting his lower lip. "'n I was hoping you'd go for it… I mean… I… _really_… want this…" he gave me his misty look again.

"Why?"

"B-…" He was about to answer, but gave me a look that was probably supposed to be accompanied by a 'duh' before he continued. "Because… Ye're amazingly hot…"

"O-_kay_…"

I could hear Malfoy snort and then snicker, now leaning against the wall that wasn't blocked from my sight by Daniel's head. Tamsin then came outside and leaned against the wall right next to him -almost against him, and looked at me curiously. I raised my hand to her as in a greeting, but she raised a brow. Oh yeah; I hadn't exactly talked to her…. At all…

_WHY_ did I always make moments awkward?

"What's happening?" Tamsin asked Malfoy, before getting her lollipop out of her mouth. She was _so_ pretty! She had dark brown hair that was…probably long enough to cover her breasts if she was naked,… and she had a few freckles… in a really cute way; they were only right below her eyes on her cheeks, and nowhere else… and she was really slim, really fit… She was wearing a short jeans skirt with tights underneath them, some top with text in so much glitter it had become illegible and she was wearing white sneakers with some flower print on the outside. AND NOW SHE HAD A LOLLIPOP!

She's just so bloody gorgeous… I sighed deeply and turned my attention back to Daniel, who was pretty much standing against me.

What was I doing again?

"Four hundred Quid." Oh yeah.

"For a kiss."

I pressed my lips together, nodded in a way that indicated I understood –and nothing more!- and sighed through my nose.

"My God!" That was Tamsin.

"Yeah, he's kind of thick," Malfoy said, turning to Tamsin completely. "He doesn't seem to realize how much that really is."

"If he won't I will!" she said, looking at me with complete and utter disbelief.

"You're not a bloke, are you?"

"Oh, shut it," she turned back to Malfoy, and put the lollipop in his mouth.

He called me thick in front of the girl _I saw first_! He made me feel more stupid than I already felt! Though if she really thought four hundred Quid was a lot, maybe I should just do it…? Hm… First I had to get back at Malfoy though. He just called me thick! He told _Tamsin_ -of all people- that I'm _thick_! I can't just let that go, can I?

Nope. And I had just the thing to get back at him…"Do you even realise that that's _Muggle_ candy? And a _Muggle_ had it in her _mouth_ before you? And you _kissed_ her too? A _Muggle_? The great Draco Malfoy, kissing a _Muggle_?"

Malfoy gave me a pretty neutral look, and then turned to Tamsin; "So... that's my name."

She smiled at him very briefly, and then seemed very confused; "What's a Muggle?"

He pushed the lollipop in the corner of his mouth to answer her… I wondered what he would say; it's not allowed to mention wizards and witches to Muggles like that, is it?

"It's erm… a lesser species of human…," her eyes grew wide, and he took a second to think; "You know worms to animals? That's Muggles to humans." He gave her an apologetic grin, and then Daniel slapped my face to get my attention back to him. It wasn't hard, but it wasn't pleasant either.

"What a dick!" I heard Tamsin say, but I couldn't turn to see her walk back inside because Daniel had a tight three-finger grip on my chin.

"Four hundred pounds… for a proper _kiss_… mate…"

He thrust a hand full of Muggle money notes deep into my back pocket, and pulled my face closer to his. Four hundred pounds… I shut my eyes tightly and prepared for gross wet faggotty lips on my own, and when I felt them I had to control myself not to push him away. Four hundred pounds is a lot.. Tamsin would have done it… maybe I can buy a kiss from her? I didn't know that's Muggles did that stuff… Yeah; I'd just buy a kiss from her.

What the… His tongue was… He was licking my lips! What the hell!? I tried to turn my head to get him to stop, but he had a firm grip. Bloody wanker probably had lots of handtraining. He hadn't moved his hands from my pocket yet and I was starting to feel a tad bit nauseous again. I got my hands up and tried to push him away by his shoulders, but he wouldn't give in. Damn; I thought his plastic shirt was… padded or something! But it was actual flesh right under there!

He opened his fist in my pocket so it was now a flat hand –I couldn't see it; I could feel it- and he pulled me closer, and then he licked me right below my lower lip, making it tingle so bad his tongue was in my mouth before I realised it.

Yup... His tongue was in my mouth now and it was having a blast, as was another part of Daniel.

I wasn't. Neither ways.

**Ohhh my Gah! Sorry for the pervertedness, straight-Ron-lovers! **

**I tried to please everyone with this chapter, by giving it some gay action without making Ron gay. ;D Heheh hope you enjoyed!**


	13. Chapter 13

Malfoy's snickering had accompanied me for however long Daniel was molesting me now, and it was pissing me off quite thoroughly. It just kept going! And with every random moan Daniel let out, I could hear Malfoy's laughter reload.

"How about you let him go?" That was Charlie's voice, wasn't it? I never thought I could be this happy to hear it! "Hm-hm!" Daniel declined, and I could feel his voice vibrate in my mouth. It was sickening, really. And then his hands… EURGH! I was using my full strength to push him away, but he was a lot stronger than me. I hated him.

The kind of hate you can feel boil up in your intestines, that makes you want to scream and break stuff? That's how much I hated him. I was sure I would burst out of my skin in anger soon. Feeling this powerless was making me want to cry.

"You let him go now." Charlie said in a more definite manner, and I could feel Daniel forcefully being removed from me somehow. I shut my eyes tight earlier because his eyes wouldn't stop staring in mine, but now I sort of wished I kept them open because the sound of skin-on-skin made me very curious as to what part of Daniel's face was hit by Charlie's fist.

I slowly opened my eyes, and when I did I saw Daniel raise his eyebrows at me in a would-be promising way. Charlie was closing in on him, and I could see him turn before I was caught off-guard by a wave of nausea. Within a second most of my dinner was on the floor, mixed with some beer. It was only half-digested… perhaps Hermione was right when she told me to chew my food better.

I tried to look up despite my retching forcing me to keep my back arched, and I managed to see Daniel strut over to Malfoy. He then stood in place for a few seconds, before going back inside.

When I caught my breath again, I leaned against the wall. I kind of wanted to go inside to get a drink, but I was too interested in what was happening outside to just leave.

Charlie seemed rather… angry.

At Malfoy.

"What the hell was that for!?' Charlie shouted, but Malfoy seemed calm and rather amused. "I gave him money to buy a kiss from your brother, and this was his way of saying 'thank you'," he stated.

Oh wait that's right! I had four hundred Quids now, didn't I?

"What the-…."Charlie leaned against the wall next to Malfoy. "Why?"

Malfoy made a face. The face of comic ignorance. "I thought it'd be fun to see him suffer… Didn't think Daniel'd take it that far."

Charlie breathed in and out very deeply, and looked at the street in front of us.

"Why'd he _kiss_ you though?"

"How would I know?" Malfoy was sounding annoyed now, "It's not like I asked him to or anything."

"You didn't mind," Charlie turned back to Malfoy with an accusing expression.  
"Says who!" Malfoy sounded downright pissed. He turned to Charlie so I could only see his back now. I could still see Charlie's face; he wasn't looking too happy either.

It was quiet for about a second, before I could hear Malfoy inhale deeply; "You don't _own_ me… You know that, right?"

Charlie's eyes narrowed.

"Right?" Draco asked again, or he stated it, actually.

"_HE_ got to kiss you."

"_HE_ caught me off-guard!"

Within a second Charlie had grabbed Malfoy's shoulders and pushed him against the wall with a bump. I was pretty sure Malfoy had a severe concussion by now. Before giving him a chance to realise what was going on Charlie kissed him on the mouth in a way that seemed rather uncomfortable.

It reminded me of what Daniel did to me just before really, and that was a nauseating thought.

After the final remains of today's dinner splattered on the ground I heard some suppressed objections coming from Malfoy. I looked back at them; he was indeed trying to push Charlie away. Unsuccessfully.

Well; obviously he was _trying_ successfully, but he wasn't succeeding very successfully.

When Charlie moved back, Draco spit him in the face. Right between the eyes.

Charlie glared at Malfoy for a second, who 'reloaded' and spit him in the face again.

Charlie glared at Malfoy _again_, and then rubbed his face clean with the back of his arm. I could tell he was shaking, and I was pretty sure that it wasn't in happiness.

I wouldn't be happy either if I were spit in the face twice…Especially not if I were wearing a t-shirt like Charlie was, and all I could really wipe it off on was my bare arm.

He brushed his arm off on his shirt violently and then grabbed Malfoy by his arm. "You want to fight? Hm?" he shoved Malfoy into the wall backwards, making him bump his head once more. I was sure Malfoy had a concussion by now, but I knew better than to interfere when Charlie had a temper tantrum.

"I don't want to fight! I want you to get _off_ me!" I could see about half of Malfoy's face, and he seemed more angry than I've ever seen him before.

"I'm _not_ letting go until you made it _perfectly_ clear to me why _he_ gets to kiss you and _I_ don't!"

"I _told_ you; he caught me off guard!"

"So did I!?" Charlie made a grotesque arm gesture to show he had no idea what Malfoy meant.

Malfoy then decided to take some initiative of his own it seemed, as he kicked Charlie in the nuts and ran for it.

"You all right?" I asked him after watching him dance around awkwardly for a few seconds. He settled his back against the wall, and I carefully came closer.

He ignored my question completely, and breathed in and out deeply a few times.

"Why would anyone want a kiss from _you_?"

I raised a shoulder; I didn't know the answer, but I didn't want to think about it. Even though I hated it, somewhere deep down I thought it was flattering someone liked me that much. And now Charlie was mocking me with it.

"Did he really pay you for it?" he was still breathing heavily, and he seemed desperate to take some of his frustration out on me as well. He seemed amused though.

"Yes, he did." I wasn't too happy, obviously, and Charlie wasn't helping at all. Especially not when he decided to laugh out.

"What's so funny?" I didn't really want to hear his answer to that, but remaining silent would be at least as awkward.

Charlie snickered some more, but he seemed to be trying to stop; "J-just that-" he couldn't finish; he had to laugh again.

I wished he didn't catch dragons for a living… because if he didn't, I'd have a chance if I decided to punch him. I was quite chanceless at the moment though, physically, so I decided to try to make him feel stupid with words instead; "Well at least my 'lover' doesn't run away from me?" HAH! That was funny, wasn't it?

Er… no. Charlie wasn't laughing.

Quickly I decided to pretend I was entirely serious; "Where is he, anyway?" Sounded innocent enough, didn't it?

Charlie seemed dead serious, and shifted his weight from the wall to his feet again. He then crossed the street in the direction Draco went. He gave me a last angry glare and then disappeared from my sight in some alleyway.

**Here we are: A proper chapter 13. It's not perfect, but I like it a lot more than the previous attempt. Also; I actually know where I want to go with it now! Please leave a review.  
**


	14. Chapter 14

I didn't feel like waiting for them to come out of that bloody alleyway. And I didn't feel like standing outside any more either. I was feeling very sad because of all the stuff that has been going on, and standing outside by myself wasn't helping.

So… I went back inside, basically. And bought tons of beer from the money I got from Daniel. Thankfully I didn't bump into him any more.

Chelsea was quite nice indeed… George needed a break from dancing (he was bright red in the face) but she certainly didn't! Nope; and she didn't notice when Fred took over from him. I even got to try her… She certainly wasn't shy I tell you that!

A good hour later I was out of breath at the bar, enjoying a lot more beer than I should probably be having.

Some time later, I have absolutely no idea how much, we decided to go home with the Portkey we used to get here in the first place. It's quite difficult to hold that thing all together when you're pretty much drunk, but somehow we managed without falling over.

"She's cute, huh?" George kept asking after we were closer to the Burrow. We still had a walk to go, but the most difficult part was over now. Fred nodded, and poked George in the ribs; "Most of us haven't changed our mind in the past two minutes."

"I have," Ginny said in a very annoyed voice. She was the only one who wasn't at least tipsy, and it was obvious she was temporarily hating the rest of us now. "Are Charlie and Draco home yet?" she suddenly asked.

"Ooh, you're on first name basis now?" Fred asked in reply, but she ignored him. "I think so," I said, feeling a lot less happy now the two of them were on my mind again. "They had a fight before I went back inside… I don't know where they went."

"You mean they're still there?" Fred asked with laughter in his voice.

"I don't know." I said.

"He said they had a fight before he went _back inside_! How could he know?" Ginny replied to help me out.

I gave her a glare; she was a right little brat wasn't she? My answer made enough sense on its own!

"What?" she seemed oblivious.

"I can speak for myself you know!"

"That's not what matters right now, is it?" she seemed really worried, but deep down I knew that was fake. She only wanted to make me feel stupid.

I briefly considered that deep down bit was actually alcohol speaking, but nah…. Alcohol doesn't talk that loud.

"Well…!" I was going to add something, but I couldn't really think of anything. Not like it mattered… Ginny gave me a quick look but when nothing followed immediately she turned to the twins, who were taking Charlie and Malfoy's disappearance even less seriously than I was.

"Maybe Chelsea is taking care of them?" Fred asked, but George didn't think that was very funny; "Charlie's a homo, and-"

"Maybe he's hanging out with 'Daniel' then…?" Fred suggested.

George ignored him; " And if Malfoy touches a _hair_ on her body I _swear_ I'll break his-"

"You're expecting her to have a lot of body hair?"

"You're expecting to get away with a remark like that?"

"Maybe they're just in the Burrow?" Ginny suggested, obviously surprised by the twins arguing and attempting to distract them from it.

"Yeah relax!" Fred seemed genuinely surprised by George's reaction.

It was quiet for a while, and we stopped walking.

"Maybe you should go back? Check for them?" Fred asked George after a while. He still seemed a bit weirded out; "You could see Chelsea when you're there."

Ginny and I looked at each other; usually Fred and George never had to plan anything… not with each other, anyway.

George seemed to start to realize something was the matter as well; "You're not coming?"

"Sure I'll come," Fred replied, but he didn't sound very convinced.

They gave each other another weird look before they headed back.

Ginny looked at their backs, and then turned to me; "That was…"

"Weird," I finished for her.

"Yeah." She stated, and raised a brow before turning back to the Burrow. I was glad she was treating me like a person again.

"Malfoy made the twins fight," I stated with a nod, trying not to allow another silence between us. She smiled; "Yeah; it's all his fault. I don't want him to get lost though… If his father finds out we'll probably get the blame."

"Good point!" I hadn't even thought of that. "But… I talked to him… the first night he was here… He was really touchy about his mother-"  
"Imaginable," Ginny gave me a teacher-like look.

"Right; but he didn't care much about his father." I got her full attention now; "Yeah he er… He said that if his father would die he would be the-… the ten- No?; He'd be very rich."

"Right…" Ginny turned from me back to the Burrow; "Okay then… So he's not too worried about his father. Eh- you went to his place, right?"

"Yeah…" Immediately I could see his mother again. She had still been a bit warm… I thought she was cold then, but considering she was dead… Thinking of it made me really uncomfortable, and very, very sad.

"What was it like?"

"Well… it was big…uh…" I couldn't really remember much of it other than his mother being dead. Might as well tell her that. "His mother was in the library, …"

"Really?"

"She had puke all over her dress and face and her hair was all stuck to it… She was laying on the ground too. I didn't know she was dead because she wasn't all cold or blue or anything…"

"She wasn't c-You _touched_ her?"

"Yeah, I put her back on the sofa… She didn't look comfortable…"

"Oh, Ron…" She seemed shocked and put a hand on my arm, but I didn't like it. Even the bit of torn cloth in my sleeve against my skin was disgusting me somehow.

She quickly pulled her hand back when she noticed how I responded to it; "What do you suppose happened?" she asked after a few seconds.

"Well… I first thought you knew, actually." She looked at me weird. "With you and the twins being all nice to him." I couldn't hide my accusing tone. I was well fed up with people keeping all these things from me.

She thought for a while.

It seemed neither of us was very eager to go home and find out if Charlie and Malfoy were there. "Well," she started, "I thought he looked really sad… And… Well if he would have seemed all right I would have probably treated him the way he treats us you know, but… he seemed so thoroughly sad, you know? As if he was with a Dementor."

"Oh, okay… I didn't… He didn't look happy, but I didn't think he looked particularly sad."

"Perhaps you don't pick up on it as well…?"  
"On what? Sadness?" I was becoming agitated; I wasn't blind or anything, was I?

"No! It's…" Ginny thought again. It's strange when your younger sister has to explain things to you. "It's Trelawney-stuff," she said after a few seconds. "Just more Trelawney stuff. Don't worry about it."

It's even weirder when she's comforting you. Or telling you not to worry. Ah well.

"Ehm… What will we do if they're inside?" I asked her.

"Well… You've been talking to him… and you've seen them fight, so… If they're there you should do something."

"You don't want to get involved?" I couldn't believe my ears! Ginny was usually the first one to have a say in arguments that were none of her business!

"No, I don't know him well enough. And we both know Charlie, so-"

"I got to know a whole new side of Charlie last night."

"How do you mean?"

"I didn't know he was gay."

Ginny looked at me in amazement for a second and then laughed out. "So you missed those clues as well?"

"_What_ clues?!"

She snickered, shook her head and set pace again; "I can't wait for bed."

"I'm not stupid you know!" I nearly shouted it.

"I know! Relax! You're just drunk."

"I'm not drunk! I'm just-"

"Intoxicated with alcohol."

"Yeah!"

"That's what drunk _means_, Ron."

"Wh-!" What the hell… How do I get back at her for making me feel even more stupid!? "I didn't know Hermione was here!" Calling someone 'Hermione' wasn't an insult, but…

"If she were you'd be a lot happier now, I'm sure." She opened the door and rushed inside before I could think of a proper reply.


	15. Chapter 15

Hermione slowly took off her shirt, showing a white bra with pink lace. She looked at me and smiled, before allowing her skirt to slide down her legs. "I finished my homework, Ron…" she said, before looking away shyly. "It's time to have some fun now…"

I couldn't control my breathing; she was so unbelievable hot! She didn't seem affected though.

I sat on the chair behind me, and Hermione was on my desk. Her hands were in the middle and her legs were spread, and she was looking me straight in the eyes. _Gods_ she was arousing! It was hard not to reach for my groin and just… get off to her… but… She was right in front of me! I couldn't do that, right!? I tried to stutter something and she shook her head slowly, making a strand of hair fall from behind her shoulder over her breast. "Would you like that…?" she asked, pouting her lips. This couldn't be real… But it _felt_ real!

Her hair was up as it was at the Yule ball, but it was… bigger? Fluffier was probably a better word.

"I missed you…" she nearly whispered it and before I knew it she was in my lap.

Where she sat felt so unbelievably warm... the heat spread from there making it nearly impossible for me to sit still. I wanted to feel her touch me so bad… She seemed to read my mind though, and before I knew it her hand was in my groin.

Her lower lip stroked over my cheek and she then licked and nibbled my ear. I grabbed her by the waist and tried to keep her in place; no way I was going to allow this to end!

She kept moving back and forth breathing in my ear and neck and stroking me all over and it felt _so_ good… I pushed her close, smelled the nape of her neck, licked her, kissed her, and then looked over her shoulder into a dimly lit room with… Hermione there?

Slowly she was undressing…Bloody Hell! She could have told me she had a twin sister!

I was sure I was only a second away from coming all over her panties when suddenly Malfoy was there.

"Do you _mind_?" Hermione who was undressing quickly covered herself up and disappeared.

The other one… was gone? "Hermione?" I asked, but I got no response. The light in the room changed though, and the ceiling became a lot higher. "Damnit Malfoy!" Malfoy just stood there though. He stood there and stared at me. "I was _this_ close to coming!"

He just stared and approached me. "STOP IT!!!" He didn't reply, and slowly I was sucked into his eyes. It was raining mercury in there…

I decided to check it out; eyes aren't supposed to rain, are they?

Inside the mercury rain was a library. There was a big ring burning on the floor, and a lot of black shiny shoes. Mister Malfoy walked by as drunk as he could possibly be, singing a song about the Seltic Seas, whatever those were. He took a sip of something from his cane before being burnt alive. I didn't care much about him being burnt… And I pretty much forgot about it when I saw that there were only coins in his place! I knew they belonged to 'Draco' Malfoy but honestly; Finders keepers, right?

I quickly picked up the coins and put them in my pockets. I was now rich! I saw the scoreboard in the distance indicate my ranking; from all the way down I went all the way up! It went so fast the other nametags fell off before I could read them. This was great!

I had to tell them this!

But mum just stared at me funny… and dad was busy… and Ginny was making faces.. and the twins were fighting… and Bill was stuck in a pyramid so he couldn't make it. Percy wanted to see, but I didn't want him to know. He had nothing to do with this.

Maybe I should tell Charlie? Charlie was in Malfoy's bedroom making a huge mess, but he was looking at me. He didn't like that I took the coins… But they were mine! I found them! Before I could tell him that he pointed my pocket. Somehow I could see around my back and I noticed the coins had burnt holes in the material and they had all fallen out.

Charlie continued kissing Malfoy (when did he get here?) and a Daniel ran right beside me even though I was standing still. He wanted me to run, too. I wouldn't mind running, but I don't want to run with _him_! He then gave me a beer and ran to Malfoy. I allowed him to. I knew Malfoy would get in trouble for kissing a Muggle boy but I couldn't be arsed. At least I didn't have to run with him anymore.

So I followed to coin trail. There were miles and miles of coins, and I hadn't realized I walked this far since I entered. It was raining mercury still, and Hermione sat in a tree. "Mercury is poisonous, you know?"

"And it's the only metal that's fluid at room temperature!" Ginny shouted at her, before trying to get in the tree with Hermione. "Just don't get stuck in it!" Hermione shouted back at Ginny, but Crookshanks was in the way so Ginny and I couldn't hear her. Ginny then got stuck.

I walked on though; I needed the coins! I had walked a few metres now, and all the coins I passed were mine again.

There were so many coins ahead… Being the richest person in the world kind of sucked. Where was I going to put all these?

I wanted to ask the twins, but they were fighting and covered in the grey goo. "You're not supposed to tell people every two minutes!" Chelsea said, but George couldn't hear her because there was mercury in his ears.

I was tired of walking so I sat down, but the money was time and the time was money so I was there before I hit the ground. All the coins were mine again, and my clothes were burning.

"Don't you ever stop eating?" Hermione asked, but she was far away now.

Then Mrs. Malfoy was laying there on the ground, covered in her own sick. She was turning to ice and her dress was turning blue, but I didn't want to touch her! What if I would lose the money?

Some crap song started playing and Malfoy cried, so I left them to it. He was covered in his father's ashes so it didn't seem wise to disturb.

I knew Harry was on his way, but he wasn't here yet so… What was I supposed to do?

I could take the coins home!

Whoa that would be awesome! I could show them to mom and she could buy me a new poster!

When I got home Ginny's new dress was hanging on the front door. I set it on fire and walked in.

My coins were molten and hanging from all the walls. The house looked really good with all the sparkles. It was big and empty now though… Mom was dead but she kept talking to me.

There was sick and tea all over her apron but she didn't seem to realize that she was _dead_!

"I _hate_ you!" she pointed the walls I had decorated especially for her, and she kept trying to walk but she had no shoes on so she couldn't move. "You've wasted a year of my life, you know that!? Stop being pathetic! I'm not being pathetic! You had this coming! You brought it all over yourself! It's no wonder people can't stand being around you!" Mom was starting to fade, but that didn't make her less angry! No, she was _furious_! It was radiating off of her; "I'm leaving!" she said, and then she was gone. There wasn't much left besides a goldish glow; "Don't! Please! You can't leave _now_!"

Then a door slammed, and I was wide awake.


	16. Chapter 16

I didn't know what was happening, but because of the rapid footsteps outside I did know I was missing out! I tried to get up quickly but I was tightly tangled up in the sheets. There were shouts too, I wish I could hear what they said, but… Bloody sheets! As I struggled I could hear more footsteps going down the stairs, and when I finally freed myself I ran down, just in time to see a green flash from under the door.

Malfoy stood in front of the fireplace with a sheet around his waist.

The twins were standing in front of me but I could see the scene from between their shoulders. Ginny was half behind me; I ran right past her when I entered.

It was almost as if everyone had frozen on the scene, when suddenly I heard the kettle start to whistle. I looked to the side and was surprised to find mom and dad there; dad staring over his newspaper and mom with one hand in the air as if she was about to turn the stove off.

Mom quickly turned back to the stove and dad cleared his throat to continue reading his paper, but both stopped again when the first movement any of us made was Malfoy turning to look at us. He didn't seem too happy.

"Ronald…." I followed Ginny's gaze to my body, and noticed all the squiggly lines on it. "What the…" The twins both made a face so angelic that there was no doubt who did this. When they noticed my gaze they stepped closer to me and pointed some of the lines; "This is Daniel,"

"And this is RonniePon."

"They're snogging here,"

"and here,"

I started to distinguish something like puppets in the lines.

"and here,"  
They both grabbed one of my arms and turned me around; "And this is the money Daniel gave him!" they added proudly.

"The arrow points his money maker." George added, before they both turned me back.

"The marker hadn't run out yet by then," Fred continued, "So _Charlie_-_"_

Fred took over; "Yes; _Charlie_ decided to doodle on your legs as well."

George nodded, and Ginny, mom and dad seemed to suppress their smile to check how Malfoy was.

Malfoy seemed indifferent. He just stared at me, blinked, and stared some more. I felt my head starting to feel heavy. Or actually; I became _aware_ of it. The alcohol had been able to make me feel sick all night long.

"You all right, dear?" Mom asked after a few seconds.

_Mercury is poisonous. _ I shook my head in surprise; what kind of crazy things did I dream again? "I'm fine," I replied, and Malfoy walked by me to go back upstairs. Mum gave me a very brief fake smile and then followed Malfoy with her gaze.

* * *

"What was that all about?"

Malfoy didn't respond.

We were in my room, both on a far end of my bed. He entered earlier without saying a word, and he didn't even get dressed yet.

It took him a while to reply, and when he did he didn't even look up; "He didn't like that Muggle kissing me."

"Really?" Charlie got this fed up about _that_? Daniel got him by surprise, right? That didn't seem entirely fair; "And that's _all_?"

"I didn't _want_ to sleep with him…" Malfoy added after a few seconds.

"y-y-…!" Bloody hell... He slept with him?! "When the hell did _that_ happen!?"

Malfoy seemed confused; "This morning?"

"Er…" Wait. "OH!! Oh you slept with _CHARLIE_!"

"Hush you idiot!" Malfoy hissed at me with gritted teeth, "Not everyone has to know!"

It was quiet for a moment, and he was looking at my bed. For someone born in high society he wasn't being very polite.

"'s That why you're still wearing his sheet?"

Malfoy looked down, apparently confused again. "I didn't realise…" he said before laughing out a bit and shaking his head, before leaning it on his hand.

"How'd you get on then? You seemed proper spaced out."

"Look who's talking! You were-!" He wouldn't let me finish.

"You kept looking at that Muggle girl."

"Tamsin."

"Yes; you kept looking over at us," Malfoy grinned; "I would have let you have her if you didn't make things so bloody awkward."

"_I_ made things awkward!? _YOU_ were-"

"Having a good time. You, on the other hand, were trying to make me feel bad."

"m-Making…" What the hell!? "You're _DRACO bloody MALFOY_!! _I_ was making _you_ feel bad!?"

He grinned, nodded, and sat back, leaning his weight on his arms and hands. Not until now did I notice all the blue spots on his body.

"And what's those!?"

First he didn't seem to know what I was talking about, but when he noticed he quickly sat back in his former position.

"What _are_ those!?" I asked again.

"Stuff," he replied, before inhaling through his nose and looking to the side.

"Everything is 'stuff', isn't it?"

"This 'stuff' is none of your business."

"Did Charlie do that?"

"Hm."

"What are they? Are they bruises?"

He sighed, but didn't answer.

Well, if he wasn't going to tell, I just had to check it out, didn't I? I dashed forward but before I reached him he stretched out his hand, poking me in the eye. "Bloody hell!"

"Self defence."

"Yeah right! Don't have to take my eye out over it!"

He wiped his hand off on the sheet he was wearing, but checked under his nails when I said that; "I don't think I did… Think I spotted your brain here though."

"Jerk off."

"I got laid proper, thank you."

Malfoy was _such_ a jerk! Why didn't he take anything I said seriously? It was quiet for a while now, and we kept exchanging glares though neither of us left or did anything.

"Why don't you take anything I say seriously?"

"_Why_ don't you understand anything?"

What the hell!? "I understand everything fine!"

"Do you have a clue what I'm talking about!?"

Well... I didn't… Not really…

It was quiet for a while again, and I could hear his breathing become louder.

He had his right arm leaning on his leg and his hand placed over his eyebrows so I couldn't see his face.

I don't know why I felt bad for him but I did. Charlie seemed to be the person he told everything... and he literally told him he needed a friend, didn't he? And now Charlie was gone.

For some reason I wanted to be that friend. I even didn't _like_ him, but I just wanted to.

"Well… If you'd tell me what it is then… I won't tell anyone…"

I could hear he was smiling when he exhaled through his mouth.

"Really! I'm a good friend!"

"Right you are," he replied, and I could still hear the smile.

"What's so funny about that!?"

He exhaled in a stuttery way and I wasn't sure if he was laughing or crying.

"Damnit Malf-"

"Draco."

"-malformed idiot." I had no idea where that came from, but it was funny as hell. I looked at him with a proud grin. He looked up at me in confusion and a second later we were both laughing. He snickered a bit though, as if he wasn't supposed to be laughing.

"Well," he said after a second. "I don't know, it's… You're _Potter's_ best friend."

"So?"

"You'll tell him everything."

"So?"

"So I wouldn't hear the end of it."

"So?"

"I like hearing the end of things… well the end of him, anyway."

I didn't like the sound of that... "Why?"

He looked at me as if he was contemplating something, and then crossed his arms and pulled up his legs so I could barely see anything of his torso any more.

"But you'll tell him."

"I won't! Like I said; I'm a good friend and reliable at that!"

He snorted and shook his head, but he didn't seem happy; "I'm just going to risk it," he nodded after saying that; "It's not like I have anything left to lose… And you're a smart fellow aren't you?"

"Of course I am!"

He laughed some more and then nodded as if he made up his mind; "All right then; well, erm…"

He turned his eyes to the ceiling without moving his face along, and seemed to be thinking; "Well, erm… Heh," He turned back to me, "What should I say?"

"What's your problem with Harry?" Obviously. That's what I asked him, isn't it?

"Oh, well… Erm… Father is quite interested in him… Always has been, with Potter being the-Boy-Who-Lived… and all... And obviously he's a Death Eater so yeah…"

He inhaled deeply, "And he cared more about Potter than me, like, erm…" I could tell he had trouble telling me this; he ran out of air before his sentence was done and he never had that problem when he was insulting anyone.

"I doubt that," I said before he continued. He seemed surprised I interrupted him, but he didn't do anything to stop me; "Because he would have met him way earlier on!"

"No he didn't go after him! It was more like… Erm... heh; When I first flew a broom I broke a leg when I landed… So I told him about it because I needed him to heal it and Mother was out shopping… But he was too busy going through all magazines he could find! Looking where The-Boy-Who-Lived was going to school! It was like I didn't exist, you know?! He actually moved his hand as if a fly was bothering him when I was talking to him!"

It took me a while to picture that… Mister Malfoy trying to swat his son with his hand, that is. "That sucks…" The image of Malfoy with a foot-shaped fly-swatter on his face was amusing enough.

"Is that funny to you!?" Malfoy sat more upright but he seemed downright pissed.

"No, just… Mental image…"

"Right." He spat, and looked to the side.

It was quiet again.

"Well;… I was picturing your father hitting you with a fly swatter…"

"Ha-ha."

"It's just jokes mate!"

"I'm not your mate."

"'Malfoy' then."

"It's _Draco, _all right!? How many times do I need to correct you before that gets through?"

"I thought you were proud of your name!"

"I _was_, yes!"

Was? He wasn't any more?

"w'er… Not any more?"

He sighed through his nose and looked at the window; "It's not really something to be proud of any more, is it?"

"oh…" I didn't know what else to say.

He didn't need me to say anything though, for he continued on his own accord after a few seconds; "I mean… Mother…" he swallowed, "She took the potion, and… Well, Father…"

He paused again, but this time something seemed to have shocked him.

"He what?"

"He-… He left with Mary! He's got no _idea_ what she did! I got-" he interrupted himself to swallow once more, and his voice sounded like he was choking again; "He… I'll… He might think I did it… "

"What are you on about?"

"Mother! What if he thinks I did it!?" He sounded properly frightened now.

He genuinely believed his Father would accuse him of his Mother's _suicide_? "That's ridiculous! You didn't do a thing! How c-"

"Exactly!" he nearly cried it out; "I heard her call for me! I _heard_ her! But instead of helping her...-I put on the radio! The bleeding _radio_! And she died! How is it _not_ my fault!?"

"Well… _she_ did it…" I sighed; how the hell was I going to talk this out of his head? I had a hangover like a thunderstorm and he was just… Eurgh.

"She wasn't supposed to _succeed_!"

"But she-"

"She's my _mother_! All right? My _mother_ was so depressed she wanted to _kill_ herself but when she _changed_ her _mind_, I wasn't there to help her!'

"But _she_ did it-"

"She didn't want to die the moment she died, _that's_ my point! _That's_ why it's bugging me so much! And Father's off partying with that low-life little _cunt_!"

"Mary?"  
"_YES_, bleeding Mary!"

"Who's-"

"The _maid_!" His tears started rolling down his face now, and his voice was shaking; "He went off with the bleeding _maid!_"

I had no idea what to tell him, and I didn't feel like thinking about it; "Well, you can stay with us, right?"

When I looked back up at him, his hands were covering his nose and mouth and he was slowly nodding, tears streaming down his face.


	17. Chapter 17

**Sorry for the long wait! I couldn't decide what I wanted to put here. I think it worked out decently though.  
And YES there will soon be more Ginny.**

"_BOYS!? BRUNCH TIME!_"

"Hey erm-" Malf-… Draco grabbed my arm just when I passed by him; "You're not… Going to tell them, are you?" He looked up at me with red puffy eyes.

"Tell them what?"

"_Anything_ I just told you." He then looked away; "and… Get yourself washed and covered up."

As in some previously undiscovered reflex I covered myself, but quickly stopped it when I noticed he was grinning; "The _ink_… I don't know what you think you're covered in…"

"Oh…" Yeah… Well I didn't know what I was covered in either but… I vaguely remembered dreaming about a near-naked Hermione so you never know, right?

"You should get dressed too," I said just to have something to say.

He briefly raised his brows at me without it actually giving him a facial expression, before he got up and went into Charlie's room.

* * *

"So you're all hung over are you?" Mum said in her strict tone as she put poached eggs on all of our plates. I poked mine with a fork and watched how it fell apart like a crying eye. "Not really…" I mumbled. Fred and George were nearly laying on the table; they had come back only a few hours ago.

Mum didn't seem too bothered with _them_ though… no; she seemed more concerned with Draco.

Now I knew what's going on with him, mum's concern with him seemed a lot more justified.

Draco himself seemed fine though; if I wouldn't have known he just cried his eyes out I wouldn't have had a clue. He was as cold and distant as when he arrived… though now I knew what was going on, he did seem very sad.

"Oh by the way Ron, you have a letter," mum said out of the blue, and handed it to me. "Why don't you tell me that immediately!?" I opened it right away. Would it be from Harry or Hermione?

_Ron,_

_Malfoy is staying at your place? That's new. _

_Let's make sure he won't stay long. I think I'm coming over tomorrow,__ I'll update you then. _

_Harry._

"What does it say dear?" Mum asked me as she leaned over to put more toast and more poached eggs on Draco's plate.  
"Er… He's coming over tomorrow," I said it quickly and softly; for some reason I didn't want Draco to hear it.

"What's that dear?" mum asked, but Ginny replied for me; "Harry is coming over tomorrow," Suddenly she seemed to realize what was bugging me, and her eyes shot at Draco.  
He didn't seem to care much, as he was completely occupied with trying to get his leaking egg on his toast.  
"What are you going to do when he comes over?" Ginny asked. She had quite a strange idea of a _change_ of topic.  
"Dunno…" I really didn't want to linger on this topic.

"You could go to Diagon Alley for some shopping!" mum suggested, looking at Draco first and then giving me a meaningful look.

"What am I supposed to get?" I asked in an annoyed tone. I might go there with Harry; I don't know. But I did _not_ want to discuss this with Draco at the table!  
"His birthday is coming up," Draco said in a bored tone.  
"How do you know?" Ginny asked in surprise. I was still checking in my head when the hell Harry's birthday was.  
"July the 31st" Draco added while Ginny spoke; "Oh come on; he's the bloo- Boy Who Lived. How could you _not_ know?" he looked up from his droopy egg; "How could _you_ not know? You're his best friend, right?"  
"So?" I stabbed one of my eggs with a knife; "I've got more important things to remember."  
Quite suddenly Draco laughed out. Ginny almost laughed along even though nothing was particularly funny. In fact; I thought his laugh sounded strange. No different from how it sounds in school, but now I knew he was feeling pretty down it seemed entirely out of place.  
"Like _what_?" He nearly spat the question.

Mum gave him a strange look. Ginny did too, so obviously Draco couldn't escape from having to explain himself.

"Seriously. You have a friend that 'saves us all', and you can't be bothered to remember his birthday?"  
He said it in such a mocking tone I couldn't help but hate him for it; "Well, at least _you_ don't have that problem."  
"What _problem_," he muttered without really asking it, as he turned back to his egg.  
"Worrying about _friends_," I said before taking a bite, and immediately got poked in the ribs by Ginny's elbow.

"Ronald…" Mum tried to give me a mean look and shout my full name, but she got distracted by Draco freezing while his fork was half-way his mouth. After a second or so he recovered, took the bite, and pretended nothing happened.

Mum looked at him in a surprised way and then turned back to me; "Ronald Billius Weasley! How _dare_ you-"

"It's all right," Draco interrupted mum, and she was more surprised than I was about how calm he was; "If he wants to go there… You know; he'd make a great Slytherin."

All of us were quiet then, for a second, anyway.  
"The Slytherin colours _would_ match us better though…" George mumbled lazily. Fred nodded; "Green and orange look fine together. Red and orange kind of swear."

Draco rolled his eyes; "Do they…"  
He poked his egg a few more times, but didn't take another bite.


	18. Chapter 18

**GAH it's been AGES! And I'm VERY displeased with chapter 17.  
So… I hope this chapter makes up for it!**

"Uhm. I shouldn't have said that thing."

Draco nodded; "Forget it."

"Okay… " I felt stupid at the moment. Not only for telling him he had no friends -that was a bit harsh after Charlie rushed out on us this morning-, but also because I apologized to him when he didn't care about it.

Not to mention that I told him I was his friend-! …not five minutes before I told him he had no friends!

Wow, that must be painful.

I sat down on Charlie's bed awkwardly, my back against the wall and as far away from Draco as possible.

"Uhm…" I started.

Draco didn't look up, so I continued; "…I've been sort of wondering… You said that er…"

It's so weird to talk to someone who is not looking at you! Who's checking his _nails_..!

"...that you didn't want to sleep with Charlie..?"

His eyes shot up a me and I immediately found myself warped back into my dream; It was raining mercury. I could see myself step in again… my dreams are weird.

Was he angry? Or sad? There was _nothing_ in there!

"Isn't that a bit too personal for you to ask about?" he asked shortly in the tone I recognized from Hogwarts, while he combed his hand through his hair.

"Eh-"

He leaned in, his hands on the bed and he nearly _crawled_ towards me as he licked his lips "it's kind of hard to decline… when they have their hands down your pants…"

"W-..w.." What the hell was he getting at?!

He cocked a brow and looked up at me from an angle.

"...when you're still drunk… and they're laying against you…"

"That's-…"

He licked his lips; "Lips against your ear… You know you hate it, you know you _should _hate it… " He had one hand on my knee now, that's how close he was; "But by the time you _realize_…" his face was only about an inch away from mine, and I could feel his breath on my chin. Our eyes were locked into each other, and the mercury was still raining; "..what it is they're getting at…" Both his hands were on my knees now. He leaned back on his legs a bit and stroked them up, closer to my groin.  
That was… That-… Wow… I … I know I should be disgusted, but this actually felt quite... nice.  
"..it's too late…" he whispered, his lips stroking over my own.

He then plumped back on the bed beside me; "…and then you feel stupid and ashamed," he added in a finalizing tone.

I was breathing frantically looking at him, at the wall in front of me and back at him again.

What the-… Huh… The… What… What the _Hell_ did he just-…?!

Ah.

I inhaled through my nose deeply.

Right.

I got it.

"So… Then he left?" I asked, hoping my blush would fade.

"Yeah… Had an argument first… but yes; Then he left."

Eurgh the mental images… Charlie on top of Malf- Draco… Draco with all the br- "So were they bruises?"

"What?" He wasn't looking at me again.

"The-.."

"Oh…! -some were. The ones on my hips were, the rest was hickeys."

Eurgh.

The. Mental. Images.

Why did I have to ask him that? Now I could practically see Charlie's face going over Draco's body. …Because those blue bits had been _everywhere_.

I shuddered at the thought.

"Eh…" He didn't look up at my attempt at keeping a conversation going, and slowly the silence became awkward.

"And… Well; I was actually wondering about you and Charlie."

Did he just narrow his eyes?

"About how you met and stuff…" I pressed my lips together and looked at my knees. Nice going Ron.

"You know.. .'Cause he lives in Romania and all…" I shrugged; "Figured it'd be strange for you to meet and… you know…"  
I sighed through my nose; this was a lost cause.

Just when I wasn't expecting a reply anymore, he opened his mouth; "Father went to see acquaintances; I got to tag along."  
He opened his mouth and inhaled to add something, but then changed his mind. Instead, he sat differently so his back was now against the wall and he was facing me.

I was about to ask him how that led to him meeting Charlie, when he continued; "I got go my own way, … passed a ginger bloke on some market. Called him a Weasley and what do you know…" he smiled absent-mindedly; ".. So… He took me to his place… made me dinner… "

"…And you slept with him?" the thought disgusted me but I _had_ to ask. He was fifteen at the time right?! Eurgh, the idea of one of my brothers with someone my age… a _boy _my age…

"Right. _Why_ are even you talking to me?" Draco asked, still not looking up. He was pressing X-es with his nail in a mosquito bite on his ankle compulsively. Clearly he didn't like being interrupted… But he should talk a bit faster then!

"b-..Well, I er…" I apologized already, didn't I? I wished this wasn't so awkward! I mean; I know I was a jerk earlier, but… He just… nearly _kissed_ me and now he was ignoring me and being strange again! "Because that's er…" Right, let's make things more awkward; "Because that's what friends do I suppose… Talk when there's no real need to."

Slowly he moved his face up and looked at me –glared at me, his lips slightly parted for a second or so before he spoke; "I thought you said I had no friends."

It was like his eyes were drilling into mine, and hitting rock bottom at every heart beat.  
"I apologized for that…"

"People speak their mind when they're cross," he replied accusingly. "Apologies mean nothing if you don't mean them."

"But I meant it! I just meant that… Well; you don't have as many friends that you need to remember the birthday of…"

"What the Hell are you getting at?" he snapped and sat more upright.  
He was still looking at me, but something seemed to have disappeared from his eyes. It was as if I couldn't step in any more if I wanted to.

"I don't know!" I shouted back at him, making a hopeless gesture with my arms. "I don't know, okay?! It's just weird to have you over when you're usually such a prick in school, and now you have all this crap going on and it's just _weird_, all right? And I barely know you and you've been staying here for ages, and you're gonna be here for a while so I'm trying to figure you out! But you're not _helping_!"

He gave me a weird look; "You're not making any sense, you know that?"

"How am I not?" I crossed my arms and tried to scoot closer to the wall I was already sitting against.

"First you tell me you're my 'friend', whatever that is… Then you tell me I don't have any –WHICH you apologized for, I know, but then… I don't know; I'm a 'prick' in school? What does _that_ have to do with anything?"

I could not believe my ears! "You just _are_! With your little posse" –Harry taught me that word- "and your remarks and your nose in the air!"

He rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly.

"And the friends you have in school are idiots."

He chuckled; "Crabbe and Goyle, right?"

"Yes, them!" He was asking me who his friends were? That's just weird.

"And Pansy," he added, cocking his head slightly to look at me.

"Yeah right but… -but _that_'s something I don't understand about you… Why do you hang out with such idiots?!"

He just laughed and shook his head. I waited for a bit but he wasn't going to add anything; he just looked at me.  
"I won't bug you with it," he said with a wink after a few moments of silence, "there's just no point… You're not going to trust me or treat me normal or anything like that… So there's no point."

"But I could _try_ to-…"

"Ron," he said shortly, taking me by surprise. It was weird to have him say my first name!  
I looked at him, and he added; "Just-… You wouldn't understand anyway."


	19. Chapter 19

**It has been age****s 0_0 Again. Sorry. I have the plot planned out but for some reason I can only write when I'm in the mood for it… which has been a while, unfortunately.**

The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully.

…

Besides of course the other letter I received in the evening– the one from Hermione.

_I don't have more brains than you do Ron- my brains just contain more applicable knowledge than yours. _

_Malfoy is staying at your place? That is peculiar… I can imagine he's driving you mad trying to enslave you or something. Hang in there you. ; )_

_Yes, I'm in France. Mais je n'expecte pas que tu comprends le langue Française, quel est pourquoi je n'écrit pas dans ca a toi. _

_Kidding! Or actually – Paradox! _

_We will be back in Britain a week from now, and after some repacking then I'll come over._

_Yours,_

_Hermione_

She always knew how to make me feel stupid with her random little facts… Would she even realize that?

Did I care?

I was thinking of her face as she wrote this letter.

'_Hang in there you_'

She probably chuckled a bit and put a hand over her mouth. Because… she was probably on the beach for a moment before going back to sightseeing. Yeah; she wrote it, laying on her belly on a huge towel.

Wearing a bikini.

'_; )'_

A pink one.

'_That is peculiar…_'

A white one then. With pink lace.

'_Kidding!_'

…no bikini at all.

_Love, Hermione_

_Love Hermione_

Yeah, she was naked on a towel in France holding the tip of a quill between her teeth – stroking it down slowly, leaving a slight glistering trail over her chin and collarbone – her nipples become hard and show through her top – the q-… wait a second.

She started off naked, didn't she?

Great – I know how to kill my mood all right.

That night I slept well though – and I managed to dream of Hermione. Naked, in school uniform, in a pink bikini, in a black one, without bikini again…

And most of the time she was telling me she 'read about this' and then kneeled in front of me to give me the best blowjob in the history of mankind.

And while she was at it… Malf- Draco leaned in. And kissed me. Almost. Not entirely; his lips brushed over mine _very_ slightly but enough to make me feel it and taste his breath and try to lean in to.. force him to kiss me, really. But Hermione kept me in place.

_His_ hands were on my upper legs though... Stroking up... he was crawling towards me... and Hermione was still doing her best with that pretty little mouth of hers.

Just when I _almost _had Draco... _ALMOST_ – our lips almost touched but I already got a firm grip on his hair so he couldn't escape any more, Daniel appeared and pushed Draco aside and opened a bank account for me. So Draco had to go because he had to make sure he had more money. And Hermione wasn't there – she never was, it was Daniel trying to jerk me off all along.

I woke up screaming.

It was 6AM though, no point in going back to sleep.

Hm I was still -…

Eurgh.

I was hard.

But that dream was _too_… Random and… IT WAS DANIEL!! …!

How could I get off after dreaming it was him all along?! That's just… Am I gay? I'm not gay, am I? Hermione was-… never there... it was Daniel. The embodiment of gay faggoty queerness. And I dreamt of Malfoy kissing me and I _wanted _him to. I actually.. I DID want him to, I wanted him to yesterday and I wanted him to in my dream but I DON'T WANT HIM TO! _Gods_! What's _happening _to me?!

Unless maybe I was sort of like Draco himself? Because he only... he _only _did it to show me what Charlie did to him, right? Not because he actually wanted to kiss me, right? So.. and then... because… He wasn't gay either but…

No wait.

I don't…

I didn't…

Eurgh…

This was too much of an effort, really. To try to comprehend the biggest jerk in the school –who was staying at our house- after dreaming of kissing him. And it's 6 in the morning.

And his mother killed himself and he thought it was his fault and his father might think so too.

Wow, that's…

And Harry-! Harry is coming today!

I got dressed quickly – I was strangely awake for this time of day. As if I was nervous.

Which is ridiculous; it's just Harry coming by, he comes over every summer and mostly in Christmas too.

Would Draco come over every holiday too? That would be-…

That would be quite…

Gods, the mere thought of Harry and Draco having a decent conversation was… _impossible_, really. That could never work. Never ever.

And yet Harry was coming today.

Yup, I was nervous.

I meant what I told Draco; that I'd be a good friend.

I kind of liked him, really. Not enough to want to _kiss_ him of course, because I'm not gay, but enough as a friend. Yeah. And now my best friend was coming over. Draco had enough shit going on and he didn't want me to tell. And Harry would probably be all…

No; it's wrong to think about Harry this way and _fuck it_ my body still wanted some release.

The thought of Daniel was a moodkill but yeah; my body didn't seem to understand that.

Think of – …Hermione.

With her pretty little mouth…

I sat back down on the bed without putting my pants on further, and managed to have the thought of Hermione in my head long enough to get off on it, but…

When I felt so... relaxed and… you know? Afterwards? All I thought of was Draco almost kissing me again.


	20. Chapter 20

"Harry dear! Welcome," mum said, giving Harry her trademark killer hug. Harry was glad to be back, I knew that for sure. Not only because he was smiling and closing his eyes that way, but also because of something that just… beamed off of him.

I hugged him too - as mates do because I'm not gay.

"How've you been?" I asked him. He looked around suspiciously; "Yeah good… It's just…" he shrugged. "Yeah. You? Had fun with Malfoy?"

Something – I don't know what – prevented me from saying 'yes' even though that would be more or less the truth. "Meh he's just…" I shrugged nervously "...being Malfoy, you know?"

Harry nodded understandingly- "Right… " he then grinned; "Why _is_ he here, anyway?"

I pretended to be ignorant; "He just er... I don't know…"

Harry looked at me expectantly.

"No really – I don't know if I should tell you. You should ask him yourself."

Suddenly Harry glared over my shoulder.

"Potter… what a pleasant surprise," Draco said, sounding a bit too sweet to be genuine.

"Malfoy," Harry stated dryly, the corner of his eye twitching, "…what brings you here?"

Shit mate, don't ask him like _that_…

"Family matters," Draco replied haughtily and continued his way down the stairs.

He went right by us, and Harry's eyes didn't leave him for a single second.

* * *

"Could you pass me the sandwiches please?" Harry asked looking at Ginny, but she had her hands full so Draco passed him the basket instead.  
Harry took only one sandwich, and made no attempt to take the basket Draco was holding out for him awkwardly -so the blonde sat it back down again…and gave Harry a glare. The latter looked back innocently.

Draco looked back at his plate and blinked often – too often – before taking another bite.

"I thought Charlie would be here?" Harry asked after a moment.

We all kind of looked at each other awkwardly – mainly at Malfoy.

"He left yesterday morning," mum said with a smile.  
"Why?" Harry asked.  
Mum opened her mouth, closed it again, and looked at M-Draco. It's weird to think of him as 'Draco' with Harry at the table.  
"He missed his dragons," _Draco_ then said, locking eyes with Harry.

They looked at each other for a few seconds.

"What's that in your neck?" Harry then asked, pretend-randomly.  
"Wh-" Draco's hand was immediately on the hickey in his neck.  
"Who's it from?"  
"_NOT_ at the table please, Harry dear," mum said, smiling sweetly at him for a second before quickly looking back at a glaring Draco.

Fred then belched.  
Ginny chuckled and belched louder.  
George belched louder than both of them as mum shouted; "_PLEASE!?_"

It was quiet for a few seconds, and I was about to ask Harry about his summer again when he started "So uhm…"  
Everyone looked up at him; "How are your parents?" he asked sweetly, locking eyes with Draco again.  
The blonde twitched and put his sandwich down.  
"_Great_, actually… Yours?"

Silence swept over the table like a whip, until Harry roared; "How DARE you?! You _KNOW_ they're dead!"

"You were provoking me," Draco replied through gritted teeth.

Mum said something but her words got lost in Harry's reply; "I was NOT provoking you! You _KNOW_ it! You're ONLY out to _INSULT_ me, or _HURT_ me, or-.. you'd probably KILL me if you had the chance wouldn't you?! You Death Eater scum; WHY are you here bothering these people!? _WHY_?! _NOBODY_ invited you here, _NOBODY wants_ you here-"

"Harry James Potter!" Mum shouted as she got up to get some attention. Harry, who had stood up during his little rant, sat down again when he realized she was serious, and looked at her in disbelief as she continued; "_Draco_ is a _guest_ here- as _much_ as you are. And I want you to treat him with _respect_!"

Harry's eyes sparked furiously, and he nodded quickly to shut her up; "He KNOWS my parents are dead, yet he ASKS me about them! And you're defending HIM?!"

Mum seemed at a loss of words, and this was my _best friend_ losing his head over Malf- my new friend! I had to do something!

"Malfoy's been through a lot though…" I tried.

Harry glared at me. "You're _defending_ him."

I gave Harry a startled look; I was. But still- Draco really DID have trouble.

It was quiet, and I could tell from mum's face she was struggling. She was looking at the Slytherin, who was eating as if nothing happened.  
"Draco…" she said almost sternly after a moment. He looked up. "Apologize," she told him softly.

He looked at his plate again and continued eating.  
"Come on," Ginny whispered.

"Oy!" Fred shouted.  
"Malfoys DON'T take commands, all right?" George added.  
"ESPECIALLY not from Weasleys," Fred finished with a would-be all-knowing expression.

Mum suppressed a smile and shook her head, but stopped doing so when Harry and Draco weren't even smiling.

"...indeed, I don't." Draco replied through clenched teeth after a moment.

"It's a matter of MANNERS more than anything though," Harry said, raising his voice slightly again.

Draco's ear twitched and he looked up at the ceiling with a thinking expression, making no effort to respond. I could hear he was grinding his teeth though.  
"…manners your _LIVING_ parents ought to have taught you."

It became silent at the table again; all I could hear was Harry's hard breathing.

Draco shut his eyes, and swallowed after a moment. He then slapped on a big –and obviously fake- smile.  
"You're wrong..," he said, his voice croaky, "my Mother…" his voice disappeared so he cleared his throat and tried again; "..They _have _ taught me manners. _You _ are just not worthy of me expressing them-" mum opened her mouth but Draco gave her no chance; "And I'm _not_ apologizing to someone who _provoked_ me."

Harry glared at Malfoy angrily and suspiciously; "Your mother..._what_?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." Draco said in a finalizing tone.

"You _half_ said it already! You might _ASWELL_-"

"Harry, that's _enough_!"

At mum's attempt to calm Harry down, he looked at her in complete disbelief; "That I raise my voice doesn't mean I'm _wrong_! HE is the bad guy here, remember?!"  
He looked at all of us; "This is Draco. Malfoy. Remember? The guy who was born from his father's ass and still hasn't cut the umbilical cord!"

"It seems they missed cutting yours, judging from that scar on your forehead…" Draco said, fake smile intact.  
Harry glared back at him.  
"Really; you're _so_ attached to your parents! And you never even _met_ them! All you know about them is what people told you, but it's been _years_. And memories get distorted, especially memories of people who died…who are only remembered by their _virtues_, not their flaws… even though the latter might in fact outnumber the former."

All eyes were now on Harry, who narrowed his eyes and whose face turned red. "With _your_ parents it would be _NO_ mistake! Death Eater and his _SLUT_, right?! Their only virtue is that they _ARE_ going to die, preferably even at _MY_ hands!"  
It was as if the room turned cold. Our faces turned to Draco… who sounded much like someone was strangling him again; "My mother was _way_ ahead of you," he stated, his face twitching slightly. "And for Father, well-… If you find him, _do_ let me know." He managed another fake smile; "I'd like a piece of him myself."  
He turned to mum; "May I be excused?" he asked softly and then I noticed he was shaking all over.  
Mum was as dumbstruck as the rest of us, but she nodded.

Draco left the table.

**I'm proud of their argument. Please tell me what you think!**


	21. Chapter 21

"How was I supposed to know..?" Harry started, sounding like he genuinely regretted it. I knew he did.

Mum looked at him sternly, opened her mouth, closed it, and restarted; "It's all right, dear… " she said after a moment, and hugged him.

I wanted to say something. Really. I wanted to tell Harry that he was being a complete and utter dickhead, that Draco had a lot of crap going on, and that he did not need _him_ being an asshole on top of that. But Harry was also my _friend!_ I couldn't just tell him to shut the hell up and leave Draco alone, not after I _wrote _to Harry that I…! what did I even write to him? I know I wasn't exactly praising Malf-_DRACO_'s presence here…

Mum let go of Harry, and I lay my head on my arms on the table trying to think of what to say.

"Ouch!" Harry said suddenly.  
"_That_ was for making Draco cry," Fred said,  
Mum then suddenly shouted- "George!"  
"…and _that_ is for hugging the Boy-Who-Made-Draco-Cry." George said.

Ginny left the table and went upstairs.

I looked up just in time to see mum slap the both of them on the back of the head; "And _that _is for you _hitting_ people! What is _wrong_ with you?!"  
Harry kind of smiled then. I did too.

Fred and George were trying to hit mum again, but she was starting a rant so Harry and I decided it would be better to leave the table and go upstairs.

* * *

"Malfoy wants a piece of his father?" Harry asked in disbelief once we were in my room, sitting on my bed. I nodded; "Uhm. Yeah…? I don't really…"  
"You're lying," Harry said, and looked at me angrily. "This is _Malfoy!_ Remember? We _hate _this guy. And now... Apparently… he's dating Charlie, his _mother_ is _dead_, he wants a _piece _of his _father_, and... I just can't believe you didn't tell me!"  
"I told you he was dating Charlie! In the owl, right?"  
Harry sighed; "But you didn't tell me he had so much crap going on!"  
"He made me promise not to!"  
"Right, and you think _he _would keep a promise like that?" he looked at me questioningly.  
"Yes!" I said without a doubt. According to Harry's face, that was the wrong answer.  
"Well, what did he tell you then?" He said after a moment.  
I shifted uncomfortably; "But he made me promise not to tell you… he said I would tell you but I told him I wouldn't."  
Harry sighed, and looked at the bed. "I thought you hated him," he said after a while; "That you hated Malfoy. Because he's always been a downright asshole… not just to me, to _you _as well."

I pressed my lips together; I knew he was right.

"And... he _did_ bring up my parents and he _knew_ they're dead," he added in a tone that sounded a lot sadder.  
He then remained quiet.

I looked at the bed, looked at him, looked at my Quidditch posters, looked back at the bed… back at him… he wasn't talking.  
I shifted again.

"Well.. his... Father ran away… " I started. Immediately Harry was all ears.  
"…with the maid… Mary…" I pressed my lips together and nodded. Malfoy was right. I did tell Harry everything. And M- _DRACO _ would hate me for it.

But I didn't want my best mate to be here knowing there was stuff he wasn't allowed to know! That would just… He's got enough drama as it is, really.

… but so does Draco.

I shut my mouth.

"...go on…" Harry encouraged me. I shook my head.

"He'd hate me for this though…" I replied, and Harry gave me a glare so intensely angry that I thought it was best to- "...but that's all right! It's Malfoy, after all."

Harry looked at me suspiciously, but nodded anyway.

I sighed; "So... uhm… His mother was… apparently.. she tried to kill herself. More than once." Harry scoffed slightly, but he looked shocked too so I didn't want to ask him why; "..and… well… he heard her… er… She took poison... and… waited for her death… in the library… and… He heard her call his name… but he didn't want to help her because he had to do that so often before so he just put on the radio and waited for her to stop but then she died and now he feels _really_ really bad about it… But she's already dead and he's afraid his father might think he killed her because he's a bit paranoid and I… I _touched _his _mother_…"  
I looked at the wall in front of me. I could almost feel her again, cold.. not corpse-cold.. I think... but apparently so... and yet… I put her back on the… ". the sofa…"

"...you what?" Harry's voice seemed to come from far away.

"His mother was… laying on the floor in the library.. we had to go to his place to pick up some stuff, Charlie went with us and I didn't know what room was his bedroom so I opened a door and walked in and it was the library… and his mother was on the floor./. and I picked her up and put her on the sofa because she was knocked out and I thought she was so drunk she fainted but… Later he showed us around… and he didn't show the library… and then later I heard she died. Because she killed herself. And she's dead now." I took a deep breath and felt a lump in my throat. I wasn't sad about it… just… freaking out.

"But h-"

"He kissed a Muggle too you know; Tamsin. She sat on his lap and everything. And some guy, Daniel, he kissed me for 300 pounds. And he kissed Malfoy too and then Charlie got _furious,_ basically, and then er-they went back here and apparently they had sex. Well not immediately but the next morning. And then they had an argument because Malfoy didn't really want to sleep with him but Charlie wanted to go back to Romania and that was yesterday morning. And he told me everything. And I told him I wouldn't tell anyone."  
A blush creeped up in my face, and I looked down at the bed.

Harry was looking at me but I ignored him for a bit. I needed to sort this out in my head.

_Draco grabbed my arm just when I passed by him; "You're not… Going to tell them, are you?" He looked up at me with red puffy eyes._  
"_Tell them what?"_  
"_Anything I just told you."_

That was the day before yesterday.

Today I told Harry everything.

Something was stinging inside of me… I think it was my guilty conscience poking me with a demonic pitchfork.

"Uhm. He's not all bad…" I said after a while. Harry nodded.  
"...if I would have known his mother was dead I wouldn't have said that thing about his 'living' parents."  
"I know you wouldn't have mate…"  
"I think I should go and apologize," Harry said, and got up.  
"I think he'll rip your head clean off though."

He smiled faintly. "I do want to apologize though…show him the difference between Gryffindors and Slytherins."  
I smiled and got up.  
See? It might work out. Harry wasn't being as much of an asshole towards Draco as I expected.

…not like I thought Harry would be an asshole, I just… yes. He was being nicer to Malfoy than Malfoy deserved. Better. So it's all good. This is why Harry is my friend.

* * *

I knocked on Charlie's bedroom door. No response.

"I think they're in there," Harry said, and nodded towards Ginny's room. I walked closer, and there were indeed voices in there.  
Harry was about to knock the door, but I held him back and placed a finger over my lips.  
Then I placed my ear against the door.

Harry gave me a look but then did the same.

"…etter. Nobody will make you… but still." That was Ginny. She sounded very serious and she was talking softly.  
"…it's okay to cry."  
"I'm _not _crying. How many times do I have to tell you before you realize that?" Malfoy snapped at her.  
"...but you _should_! It's relieving!"  
"_You_ cry then if you need 'relief'. I'm fine-And stop_. patronizing _me!" He didn't sound sad at all.  
"I'm not! It's comforting!"  
"Keep your hands to yourself. Really." Something was rustling.  
"When mum did it you didn't mind!" Ginny said accusingly.  
"That's because she's old. n- Don't! Okay? _No_ hugs. Here's a teddy, hug that."  
"Hey!" Ginny giggled, and then Harry knocked the door while glaring at me.


	22. Chapter 22

**Sorry f****or the eternity between updates!! Stains, a collaboration fic between Synderska and myself, has been taking up most my attention! It's Ron and Draco so if you enjoy this you will enjoy that even more! Please check it out! It'll definitely be updated more regularly than Misunderstandings. I'm sorry! I'm NOT abandoning this though, just letting you all know! On with the chapter…**

"Yeah?!" Ginny replied to Harry's knocks, laughter still in her voice. Harry then opened the door and walked in.  
Ginny's face fell. Draco's didn't change, but it wasn't happy either.

"I er-… " Harry started. Draco glared at me. Ginny put the teddybear away.

"I wondered if we could have a word," Harry continued.

Draco leaned back a bit on Ginny's chair.

"...in private?" Harry was starting to sound slightly impatient now.

"No," Draco said without a doubt, "I'm not going anywhere in private with you."

Ginny and I sighed through our nose simultaneously. A few years ago we would have looked at each other and then laughed out, but I don't think she even noticed it now.

Harry seemed confused; "…I wanted to _apologize_." He really was losing his patience.

"Then apologize," Draco replied, making an inviting gesture with his hands.

Harry drew a breath and I knew he was angry; "Look, I don't _have _to do this! All right? I don't _owe_ you an apology."

Draco looked to the sides (for an invisible audience?), a big grin on his face; "Then… why offer one?"

"_Because_ I didn't want to argue with you!" I stepped forward to hold Harry back a bit.

Draco looked amazed; "Then _don't_!" he said with a wide arm gesture. "Nobody asked you to apologize, to be the eternal good guy and rub in my face how much better than me you think you are," his mouth was smiling but his eyes weren't.

"You shouldn't apologize to Death Eater scum, Potter." Draco got up and strutted towards us; "…maybe... _I_ should apologize to _you_..."

Harry seemed to calm down a bit, and cocked his head up slightly. Malfoy didn't seem to be joking.

Draco was very close to Harry now; "…I'm sorry… _your_ scar is so obvious."

It was quiet for two seconds, and for a moment I feared Draco would kiss him or something.

"What the hell does that mean?" Harry asked in defence mode. "You're not, you're full of crap! Could you take this seriously for _one _moment?! I _came _here to-"

"-to show us how amazingly forgiving you are. We know." Draco crossed his arms.

Harry was quiet for a moment, but then his expression changed into a smug look that made me fear whatever it was he was about to say; "What 'we' are you talking about, Malfoy…? Your friends aren't with you now, you know."

Ginny looked up at Harry in surprise.

Draco looked as if he was under the Cruciatus Curse but tried to ignore it.

…and then he looked at me.

It was only for a moment, but it was enough to make me feel bad to be standing _here_ and not _there_. Draco licked his lips and now looked at a random point on the ceiling behind me.

"I know that," he said after a moment, sounding more serious than before. His tone sounded strangely flat. He was about to add something, but Harry didn't allow it; "What was it then? Royal plural? You're not 'all that', you know!"

Draco sighed. "Right. I know. I have nobody. The Weasleys are yours. I get it! Don't worry! Don't give me that look. Okay? It's like Mommy Dearest said, we're both guests here. I'll just-" -he put his hands in the air as if he surrendered- "go sit in Charlie's room and mind my own business while you feel at home and have the time of your life with your surrogate parents. Out of my way-!" When he passed he shoved me into the door post and then silently went back to Charlie's room.

I wanted to cry.

Ginny got up from the bed, and came towards us. I stepped out of her room, but Harry only just turned back from looking to Charlie's door to looking at Ginny.

Ginny, who then slapped him in the face.

"Wh-" Harry started, but Ginny didn't let him; "Out! Of. My. Room!"

When Harry didn't move besides moving his hand up to his face, Ginny shoved him out and slammed the door.

"_Ahhf_-!!" Harry then sucked in air between his teeth, as he balanced on one foot.

"Ssssshoved the door over my toes… Gods…"

He deserved it.

* * *

Tension at the table. Everybody knew how well Harry and Draco got along now, and I felt caught in the middle. Mum was violently pouring soup into our plates.

"Nothing like a family meal," Fred sighed, as George slumped in his chair and he himself leaned his head on his hand. "Seeing all your happy faces…" George added, as both Fred and him mocked being in a bad mood.

"Thank you," Harry said when mum filled his plate, sounding like nothing happened.

Ginny was glaring daggers at him when mum then turned to fill Draco's plate.

"Watch it-!" All eyes turned to Draco, who stood up and aggressively wiped his arm over his face. "Can't you pour soup!? I don't need you to shower me in this-… _mud_ or whatever it is! Can you even cook- can you do _anything_?!"

Mum was gobsmacked – she wasn't used to anyone shouting directly at her, let alone a _guest _doing so.

Dad looked like he wanted to say something, but before he could Harry said; "You can't talk like that, Malfoy."

As a response Draco slapped his plate off the table with so much force it shattered against the wall, leaving Ginny's left arm covered in soup. "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

Mum put the ladle down and seemed pale "-I'll get-,…" she looked around, trying to find something, but when she turned back and handed Draco a napkin he was already sat back down at the table.

His face was flushed, his eyes were fixed on the ladle.

And our eyes were fixed on him.

"Amen, brother" Fred whispered. I kicked him under the table.

Draco attempted to clear his throat, sounding like he stifled a cough.

"Eh – am…" he said softly, before suddenly focussing his eyes on the soupy shards of plate. "I'll…clean that…"

I wanted to disappear – it was so painful to see this… I think he felt the same way.

Mum looked at him, and her face changed. "Oh no – it's okay dear," she said, sighing in a smile as she took her wand and cleaned the mess with one flick. Her hand shook as she got another plate and carefully poured Draco some soup.


End file.
